The journey out of Oleshky

The evacuation operation began on Friday and was carried out under the most significant truce since Russia's full-scale invasion started four and a half years ago. Those who left Russian-occupied Oleshky crossed into Ukrainian-held territory on Saturday, where the family reunification many had waited years for finally took place.

The route was long. Evacuees travelled by bus and plane through Russia and Belarus before reaching the Ukrainian-Belarusian border. Waiting for them there were relatives and volunteers from the Red Cross, Médecins Sans Frontières and World Central Kitchen, who welcomed the arrivals with aid and food - including provisions for the pets people had brought with them.

• •Evacuees travelled by bus and plane through Russia and Belarus
• •Relatives and volunteers from the Red Cross, Médecins Sans Frontières and World Central Kitchen met them at the border
• •Aid and food were on hand, including supplies for animals

Voices from the city

Those who arrived carried accounts of what daily life had become in the occupied city. Tetiana Leonidivna, 71, thanked the Ukrainian soldiers who helped her flee. "We love them, we love them," she said, adding: "And a deep bow to them, and a deep bow to their parents, for having such children."

Ivan Yevhenovych, 48, described his final months in Oleshky. "It was very difficult. There were a lot of drones. It was hard to move around the streets," he said. In his account, staple food had run out since spring, leaving people to rely on small reserves of their own. He said landmines or drone strikes were killing residents every day.

Who stayed and who waited

An estimated 2,000 people remained in Oleshky when the truce took hold. For each of them, the truce opened three options: a transfer to territory held by Ukraine, a transfer to territory held by Russia, or staying put - with food and medical stocks in the city restocked either way. Yevhenovych said some chose to stay regardless. "Many people stayed behind and didn't want to leave," he said. "Some for their houses, some for their animals."

Ukrainian authorities have not said how many residents evacuated Oleshky and have restricted details of their route. But Melania Trump posted on social media on Friday that the humanitarian convoy could safely evacuate more than 750 people.

Among those waiting at the border was Liza Paliy, 19, who had come for her father, whom she last saw more than two and a half years earlier. "We thought at that time that it would be a month, two maximum, and we would return," she said of the separation.

Ukraine's human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets gave a picture of who made the crossing: according to him, the youngest evacuee was just over a year old and the oldest was 94, while the animals travelling with them ran from dogs and cats to a parrot and a raccoon.

What both sides say comes next

Lubinets hailed the mission as a win, writing that behind it stood difficult negotiations and preparations. "Behind us are difficult negotiations, agreements, preparations, and an enormous amount of work," he wrote. He added that the Oleshky truce "could form the basis of a new mechanism for responding to the most difficult humanitarian crises".

The ceasefire in Ukraine's southern Kherson region began early on Tuesday and was expected to continue through Sunday evening. The White House said first lady Melania Trump helped broker the localised deal, and Pope Leo XIV pressed Russia and Ukraine to allow aid deliveries and evacuations.

On the Russian side, human rights commissioner Yana Lantratova said Moscow and Kyiv have agreed on further humanitarian missions to be carried out regularly in Oleshky and the surrounding area. She said the mission has concluded but that living conditions in the city remain extremely difficult, and that Russia would support residents who chose to stay. Evacuees who opted for Russian-occupied territory, she said, were housed at a temporary shelter in Simferopol, which Moscow annexed in 2014.