Trapped for years by heavy fighting and threatened by starvation amid constant bombardment on the front in Ukraine, hundreds of civilians made it to safety on Saturday after the most ambitious evacuation operations since Russia invaded nearly five years ago.
“When the world pays attention, people are rescued,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a statement. “Further steps toward de-escalation and real progress toward peace are also needed.”
The dayslong operation around the city of Oleshky is now the longest localized cease-fire since 2022, said Dmytro Lubinets, a Ukrainian lawmaker and the parliamentary commissioner for human rights. He said it would remain in effect until 10:59 p.m. Nov. 1 local time in Kyiv.
“Behind every stage of this operation are the lives of people who have been waiting and hoping,” he said. “The oldest evacuee is 94 years old, while the youngest is just over 1 year old! Another woman will celebrate her 49th birthday tomorrow!”
Both Russian and Ukrainian officials offered thanks to the U.S. first lady, Melania Trump, for helping broker the brief halt to the fighting around the battered city, in the Kherson region, which has been under Russian occupation for years.
“Oleshky proves we can raise humanity above war,” Mrs. Trump said in a statement. “Together, we can build a peaceful planet, a world of promise for our children.”
Yana Lantratova, Russia’s human rights commissioner, posted a message saying the mission was complete. Evacuees, she said, would be divided into one column of buses taking people to Ukraine and another staying in Russian-controlled territory.
Ukraine-bound evacuees had to make an arduous 19-hour journey from Oleshky to the Russian city of Anapa, on the Black Sea, and then through Belarus to Ukraine. On Saturday afternoon, they reunited with loved ones after years apart.
One man had survived 16 attacks by Russian drones and four missile strikes on his home, said the Ukrainian lawmaker, Mr. Lubinets.
“One of the explosions occurred just one meter from the wall of his house,” he said.
Russia and Ukraine have imposed restrictions on media reporting from the scene and have declined to give numbers of evacuatees. Prime Minister Serhii Koretskyi of Ukraine announced in Parliament on Friday that 527 people were being evacuated to Ukraine but swiftly retracted the statement.
The issue is sensitive because Russia’s ombudsman has said not many people wanted to leave, and Ukrainian officials have expressed concern that people have been living under Russian coercion. A Russian military blogger, Vladimir Romanov, posted on Telegram that 17 buses were heading to Ukraine and four buses to Russia. Soon after, he deleted his post.
