World

Starved Oleshky residents return to Ukraine under rare local ceasefire

Chernihiv Region, Ukraine • October 31, 2026 • By Press Pass USA

Editorial illustration: elderly evacuees with small bags and a dog stepping off a bus at a border reception area, with tents, hot meals and ambulances nearby

Editorial illustration — Press Pass USA

Starved and exhausted residents of the Russian-occupied town of Oleshky crossed into Ukraine on Saturday, October 31, in a major return of civilians under the first humanitarian truce of its kind in more than four years of war.

The six-day local ceasefire in Oleshky was reached after mediation efforts by U.S. first lady Melania Trump and with the involvement of Pope Leo XIV, Reuters reported. It is the longest local pause in fighting since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, and it has held since Tuesday without violations, according to both Ukrainian and Russian officials.

"As of now, Ukrainian citizens from Oleshky have crossed the Ukrainian border in the Chernihiv region. All of them will receive the assistance they need," President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, thanking the United States and Melania Trump for the mediation. Ukrainian officials greeted the evacuees with posters reading "You're not alone" and "We embrace with our hearts."

The return was the end of a long and complicated journey. Because direct evacuation across the Dnipro River into Ukrainian-held territory was not possible — access routes were heavily mined and littered with drone and vehicle debris, CNN reported — residents first traveled by bus via Crimea to the Russian town of Anapa, then flew to Gomel, Belarus, before continuing to Ukraine's northern border.

A video shared by Ukraine's human rights ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, showed dozens of residents slowly disembarking from a plane at a Belarusian airfield. Many were elderly; some needed help to walk, and a few were carried on stretchers or in wheelchairs. They carried minimal luggage — only a bag or two — and dogs were unloaded from the plane in cages. As buses crossed into the Chernihiv region from Belarus, relatives greeted them, many in tears, while ambulances lined the street and large military tents offered hot meals, tea and medical aid.

The accounts of life in Oleshky were stark. One elderly man in a wheelchair told Reuters he had lost 20 kilograms over the past year, becoming so weak he required hospital treatment. Another resident, Svitlana Yermakova, said they had to eat grass to survive food shortages. "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, Manila.

Supply routes to Oleshky were disrupted by fighting and drones, and some residents said food deliveries stopped in May, pushing hundreds of people into starvation. The ceasefire allowed both sides to de-mine roads and bring food, medicine and other supplies into the town.

Lubinets said the oldest returning resident was 94, while the youngest was a baby just over one year old. He gave no exact number for how many people returned to Ukraine. Oleshky had a pre-war population of about 24,000; before the evacuation, an estimated 1,700 remained. The town has been under Russian occupation since the first days of the invasion and was devastated after the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam in 2023 flooded nearby areas.

Not everyone left. Some residents decided to go to Russia, while others elected to remain in Oleshky despite the lack of gas, electricity and running water. Russian Human Rights Commissioner Yana Lantratova said living conditions in the town remain difficult and that she would continue working with Lubinets to help those who stayed. "The mission has come to an end," she said on Telegram. "We have agreed to carry out regular humanitarian missions, which is a very important step."

The ceasefire is set to end on Sunday. Despite the pause on the southern Kherson front, fighting raged elsewhere: Zelenskyy said Russia had attacked Ukrainian energy infrastructure, hitting electricity substations, thermal power plants and gas infrastructure, while Ukraine's military said it had hit a major Russian producer of missile fuel in the Rostov region. The Kremlin said Friday the Oleshky arrangement was an isolated situation, difficult to extrapolate to the broader peace process. Negotiators from Ukraine, Russia and the United States are due to resume talks in Abu Dhabi in early November.

Sources: Reuters (Oct 31, 2026), by Olena Harmash and Anna Voitenko; CNN (Oct 31, 2026); Newsmax (Oct 31, 2026), reporting from the evacuation route.