A convoy under localised ceasefire

A convoy of 25 buses and ambulances reached Oleshky on Friday to deliver food and medicine and to evacuate residents wishing to leave, in the first joint relief operation of its kind in four years and eight months of war. The move became possible because a localised ceasefire in Ukraine's southern Kherson region allowed the roads out of the city to be de-mined.

• •Ukraine's human rights ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, coordinated the operation on the ground with his Russian counterpart, Yana Lantratova.
• •A Ukrainian delegation reached the city late on Friday morning; footage showed tearful residents embracing delegation members in heavy rain as they waited for the convoy.

Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukraine's presidential office, wrote in an online post that the operation was under way, though he was not part of the delegation.

Months of hunger in a shrinking city

Oleshky lies on the Russian-occupied side of the Dnipro River, opposite Kherson. Its population has fallen to about 2,000 since the start of the war, according to authorities and volunteers, and the city has faced months of severe food and medical shortages, with warnings of starvation for the few thousand residents remaining, including about 50 children.

Residents described risking their lives on mine-strewn roads to fetch food and water, and some said they survived on a cup of rice or buckwheat a day, sometimes with a tomato, cucumber or wild plants. An older woman preparing to leave said: "If we had our health, maybe we'd stay there a bit longer, but that's it. We just want to be with our children."

Earlier reports suggested more than 500 people wanted to move to Ukrainian territory, but it was unclear how many travelled in the convoy. Several hundred people, mainly older residents, have chosen to stay.

The long route to Ukrainian territory

Although Ukrainian territory lies just 3 miles (5km) from Oleshky, evacuees must travel first to Anapa in southern Russia, then on to Belarus, before driving across the border into Ukraine's Chernihiv region. Davyd Arakhamia, a lawmaker with the Servant of the People party who joined the delegation, confirmed some evacuees were travelling to Anapa.

Arakhamia said of the onward route: "From there, they will fly by plane to Belarus, and then travel by bus to their homes". A woman identifying herself as Anna said on video: "Yes, we are on bus 20, my son is on bus 17. To Ukraine."

A rare pause on the frontline

The ceasefire behind the convoy drew competing accounts. US first lady Melania Trump claimed to have helped broker it, while the Kremlin described it as a special case that was "difficult to extrapolate" to the wider search for a peace settlement. Lubinets said: "This is the first time since 2022 that a ceasefire has been established across such an extensive stretch" of the frontline, and maintained for such a significant duration.

Russian troops seized Oleshky in the first days of the full-scale invasion in February 2022. The city suffered extensive damage and was badly flooded after the destruction of the upriver Kakhovka dam in June 2023. The evacuation was under way on Friday, with some residents still choosing to remain - a choice Lubinets said was their own.