Starved and exhausted residents of the Russian-occupied Ukrainian town of Oleshky have crossed into Ukraine, completing a major evacuation of civilians under the first humanitarian truce of its kind in more than four years of Russia's war, Reuters and the Associated Press reported. "Ukrainian citizens from Oleshky have crossed the Ukrainian border in the Chernihiv region. All of them will receive the assistance they need," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on X, thanking the United States and First Lady Melania Trump for mediating. "Further steps toward de-escalation and real progress toward peace are also needed," he added. The crossing completes the journey Awaaz Punjab has followed stage by stage — most recently on Saturday morning, when four planes carrying the evacuees reached Gomel in Belarus and buses rolled out for the final leg home.

Source: Reuters/AP via Grenada Chronicle, Nov 1, 2026

Evacuees wrapped in blue and yellow Ukrainian flags stepped off buses at the Ukrainian-Belarusian border and reunited with family members, Reuters reported. Ukrainian officials met them with posters reading "You're not alone" and "We embrace with our hearts", while residents from nearby villages lined the highway waving flags and flashlights to greet them. Ambulances lined the street and large tents were erected where hot meals, tea and medical aid were provided. The Guardian reported that one man, Dmytro, had not seen his wife Larisa for 1,711 days before they were reunited at the border on Saturday, and that she had lost a third of her body weight under the occupation.

Source: The Guardian via EuropeSays, Nov 1, 2026

The evacuees' accounts describe how hard life in Oleshky had become. Supply routes had been disrupted by fighting and drones, and according to some residents, food deliveries stopped in May, pushing hundreds of people into starvation. Evacuee Svitlana Yermakova told Reuters they had to eat grass to survive. "We chopped grass and squash… just to hold on," she said, adding that she risked riding by bicycle through minefields to a nearby village to get food for herself and her dog. Another evacuee, an elderly man in a wheelchair, told Reuters he had lost 20kg (44lbs) over the past year, becoming so weak he required hospital treatment.

Source: Reuters via Grenada Chronicle, Nov 1, 2026

To reach Ukrainian-held territory, residents had to take a complicated route out of the devastated town, which sits just a few kilometres from the front line on the Russian-held side of the Dnipro River in the Kherson region: first by bus across Crimea to the Russian town of Anapa, then by plane to Belarus, and finally by bus across the border into Ukraine. Ukraine's human rights commissioner Dmytro Lubinets escorted the evacuees, and Ukrainian lawmaker Davyd Arakhamia said four planes landed in Belarus on Saturday. Ukrainian authorities have not said exactly how many residents were evacuated or how many remained, limiting details to protect those who stayed behind and any future missions, AP reported. Some residents chose to travel to Russian-held territory instead, and others decided to remain in Oleshky despite the lack of gas, electricity and running water.

Source: AP via Birmingham Now, Oct 31, 2026

The six-day ceasefire covering Oleshky — reached with mediation efforts by US First Lady Melania Trump and help from Pope Leo XIV, and described by both sides as the longest local pause since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022 — has held since Tuesday, allowing the sides to de-mine roads and bring food and medicines into the town, Russian and Ukrainian officials say. It is due to end on Sunday evening. Russian Human Rights Commissioner Yana Lantratova said on Telegram: "The mission has come to an end. We have agreed to carry out regular humanitarian missions, which is a very important step." She pledged to keep working with Lubinets to help those who stayed, saying living conditions in Oleshky remained difficult. Despite the truce around Oleshky, fighting raged on elsewhere on the front, with Russia and Ukraine keeping up drone attacks against each other, Reuters reported.