Oleshky Emptied, and the Ceasefire That Allowed It Ends Tonight
The local truce in Kherson region, the most significant between Kyiv and Moscow since the invasion, is expected to end this evening. It allowed a joint evacuation of the besieged front-line city of Oleshky that finished on Saturday. About 2,000 civilians were there when it began; the number who left has deliberately not been published.
The withholding is the humane part: those who chose to stay are living under Russian occupation, and publishing how many left would identify how many remain. Residents were given three options — leave for Ukrainian-held territory, leave for Russian-held territory, or stay with food and medical supplies replenished. Ukrainian positions lie about five kilometres from Oleshky, yet those who left were taken by bus through occupied territory via Crimea into southern Russia, flown on four aircraft to Belarus, then driven across Ukraine’s northern border into the Chernihiv region on Saturday — a journey of well over a thousand miles to reach a country they had never left. The oldest evacuee was ninety-four and the youngest was one, according to Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman; families who had not seen each other in three years met at the crossing. Ukraine’s president thanked the American first lady, who is credited with brokering the pause. What happens next is the uncomfortable part: the truce began early on Tuesday, is due to expire this evening, and covers nowhere else. People in Kherson city spent today waiting for the quiet to end.