Oleshky evacuees flee after eating weeds, ceasefire deal — SkimNews
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- Oleshky residents were evacuated from the war-devastated city after enduring months without food, water, or electricity, with many forced to cook garden weeds to survive.
- Melania Trump brokered a local ceasefire that enabled the evacuation of civilians from Oleshky, marking a rare humanitarian intervention tied to a U.S. political figure.
- David Arakhamia confirmed that four planes carrying evacuees landed in Gomel, Belarus, and stated all would return to Ukrainian territory within hours.
- Dmytro Lubinets became the first Ukrainian official to enter Russian-occupied territory since the war began, traveling with Russian counterpart Yana Lantratova to oversee the evacuation.
- Russian and Ukrainian officials conducted joint coordination in Oleshky, a notable departure from hostilities, though some Ukrainians criticized Lubinets for appearing alongside Russian representatives.
- A four-hour evacuation window allowed 750 people to leave Oleshky via 25 buses and ambulances, though several hundred chose to remain in the city despite destroyed infrastructure.
- The ceasefire in Kherson region, active since Tuesday and lasting through 1 November, enabled mine clearance and safe passage, offering a brief respite after four years of frontline conflict.
Why it matters: Hundreds of civilians are escaping life-threatening conditions in Oleshky after a rare, coordinated pause in fighting, made possible by direct cooperation between Ukrainian and Russian officials—an uneasy collaboration that underscores both the desperation on the ground and the fragile potential for humanitarian exceptions in an otherwise entrenched war. The evacuation’s success may pressure both sides to allow similar corridors elsewhere, but the political cost of engagement with occupiers is already drawing backlash in Kyiv.
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