CHERNIHIV REGION, Ukraine — Evacuees from Russian-occupied Oleshky in Ukraine arrived in Belarus on Saturday on their way back to Ukraine, part of a major rescue operation carried out under the most significant truce since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine 4½ years ago.
The ceasefire in Ukraine's southern Kherson region, which the White House says was brokered with help from U.S. first lady Melania Trump, began at 3 a.m. Tuesday and is expected to continue through Sunday evening.
It was a rare joint Russia-Ukraine humanitarian effort, a brief respite in the grim war.
Civilians from Oleshky, on the Dnipro River, began the long journey out of the war-ravaged region in bus convoys on Friday. The estimated 2,000 remaining residents were offered the choice of traveling to Ukrainian- or Russian-held territory, or remaining in the city with replenished food and medical supplies.
Russia's Ministry of Defense said those who chose to travel from Oleshky to Ukrainian-held territory were taken to the Russian city of Anapa and flown to the Belarusian city of Homel. They were accompanied by Dmytro Lubinets, Ukraine’s commissioner for human rights, it said.
“We will be home soon!” said a video post from Lubinets at Homel airport.
Four planes with the evacuees landed in Belarus and the passengers would be on Ukrainian territory “within hours,” said Ukrainian lawmaker Davyd Arakhamia.
Daughters wait to see their fathers again
Relatives waited on Saturday at the Ukrainian-Belarusian border, along with aid tents, coffee stands and even provisions to feed the pets the evacuees were bringing with them. Volunteers from organizations, including the Red Cross, Doctors without Borders and the World Central Kitchen, were also there.
Liza Paliy, 19, who last saw her father over 2½ years ago when she, her mother and sister fled from the occupied territory while he stayed behind, was among those waiting.
“We thought at that time that it would be a month, two maximum, and we would return, but unfortunately, two years have already passed," she said.
Daria Pavlyn also waited at the border in hopes of reuniting with her father, Mykhailo, whom she had not heard from in about a month.
He had planned to flee occupied territory with his family after a nearby strike killed two neighbors but stayed behind when arrangements to care for the family’s home and animals fell through.
“We realized that, well, there was no (other) way, and he walked us to the road and that was it — that was the last time” they saw him, Pavlyn said.
She said that since then, he had feared making the arduous journey out, particularly without Russian documents.
Russia’s ombudswoman and lead representative on the mission, Yana Lantratova, said buses also transported Oleshky residents who wanted to live in Russia. Russian media outlets on Saturday showed civilians arriving at a temporary accommodation site in Simferopol on the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014.
Russia and Ukraine have not specified how many people chose to leave the city, but the U.S. first lady posted on social media Friday that the humanitarian convoy could safely evacuate more than 750 people.
Apart from Melania Trump, Pope Leo XIV — the first American pontiff — also pressed Russian and Ukrainian leaders to allow aid deliveries and civilian evacuations.
The US approves Patriot missile sales for Ukraine
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday welcomed U.S. approval of Ukraine’s purchase of 500 PAC-3 Patriot interceptors but urged partners to supply the weapons from existing stocks to protect the country this winter, warning the newly authorized U.S. sale could take years to deliver.
“Right now, the Russians are attacking our energy infrastructure every single day. In just these past two weeks of October, there have already been more than 30 Russian strikes on critical parts of our power grid,” Zelenskyy wrote on X.
The Trump administration said Friday that it had approved a proposed $2.1 billion sale of Patriot air defense interceptors, after Kyiv had accused the Pentagon of delaying deliveries of the vital munition needed to stop Russian ballistic missiles.
The U.S. State Department said 500 Patriot missiles would be purchased for Ukraine with donations from Canada, Germany and Norway through a U.S. program and that no American funds were involved.
A Ukrainian drone attack kills 2 in Russia
Meanwhile, a Ukrainian drone attack killed a 30-year-old woman and a 41-year-old man in Russia’s western Bryansk region, local Gov. Yegor Kovalchuk said Saturday. Another five people were wounded, he said.
Local officials also reported Ukrainian drone attacks in the Russian republic of Bashkortostan. Russian media outlets said there was a fire in the region’s capital, Ufa, home to several oil refineries.
Russia’s Ministry of Defense said Saturday its forces had shot down 433 Ukrainian drones overnight.
Zelenskyy said Moscow launched drone attacks on energy and railway infrastructure across Ukraine overnight, leaving 280,000 households in Dnipro and Kyiv regions without power.
The attacks targeted combined heat and power plants in Kyiv and Sumy regions, four electricity substations and a gas distribution facility in the Dnipro region and railway infrastructure in Dnipro and Kharkiv, he said, adding that repair crews were working to restore power.
Zelenskyy urged partners to impose further sanctions on Russia and provide new support packages to Ukraine.
“The world sees Russia targeting civilian infrastructure every day. Everyone who does not want to see this Russian escalation spread further into Europe must help Ukraine,” he said in an online post.
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Associated Press writer Katie Marie Davies in Manchester, England, contributed to this report.
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Follow the AP's coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine