Overview
- A humanitarian convoy including 25 buses, ambulances and food and medicine entered Russian-held Oleshky on Friday to deliver supplies and start evacuations for residents who wanted to leave.
- Designated access routes were cleared of mines before the mission, but demining operations killed two people, officials said.
- Evacuees who chose to go to Ukrainian-held areas were taken by bus to the Russian city of Anapa, flown to Homel/Gomel in Belarus and then escorted by bus into Ukraine, with planes carrying evacuees landing in Belarus on Saturday.
- The localized ceasefire brokered by U.S. First Lady Melania Trump remained in effect as the mission concluded, even as missile and drone attacks continued elsewhere on the front lines.
- About 2,000 people remained in Oleshky before the operation, residents faced months of shortages, and some evacuees and rights groups expressed concern that the route through Russia and Belarus could pressure or complicate returns and protections for civilians.