Nov 1 – Ukraine’s military said it evacuated 167 people from threatened areas of southern Kherson region on Sunday as a temporary local ceasefire neared expiry two days after busloads of residents were brought out of the embattled Russian-held town of Oleshky.
It said the evacuees included 22 children and 21 people with limited mobility requiring special assistance. Those wishing to leave Oleshky – some for Russia, some for Ukraine – were taken initially to Crimea in 25 buses and nine ambulances, Russian human rights commissioner Yana Lantratova said, before splitting into separate convoys. The governor of Kherson region, Oleksandr Prokudin, urged residents to be vigilant as the expiry of the ceasefire neared.
In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, quoted by Russian news agencies, said Russia had a positive view of how the operation was conducted in Oleshky, as well as of the coordination between the two countries’ human rights commissioners. Melania Trump, writing on X, said the ceasefire “has provided residents with the freedom to move, access to food, clean water, medicine, plus a renewed sense of dignity without the constant threat of attack”. On Saturday, starved and exhausted residents of Oleshky crossed into Ukraine after a circuitous journey from the area, just a few km from the front line.
