Evacuated Ukrainians from Oleshky reach Belarus before return home

Evacuated residents from the Russian-occupied Ukrainian city of Oleshky have arrived in Belarus and are expected to return to Ukraine on Saturday, following a local ceasefire brokered by US First Lady Melania Trump. The evacuees were flown to Gomel, Belarus, on Friday. The final of four planes landed in Gomel on Saturday morning, and Ukrainian official David Arakhamia confirmed all citizens will soon be on Ukrainian territory. A bus convoy is heading toward the border, following a humanitarian ceasefire in the Kherson region that began Tuesday, allowing the road out of Oleshky to be demined. Several hundred residents chose to stay in the devastated city, which lacks gas, electricity, and running water, and will receive humanitarian aid. The evacuation involved a 25-bus convoy and required cooperation between Ukrainian and Russian officials, with Ukraine's ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets becoming the first Ukrainian official to visit Russian-occupied parts of the country since the war began.