Ukraine wants to replicate Oleshky humanitarian mission in other occupied territories

A temporary truce enabled Ukraine and Russia to deliver food and medicine to Oleshky, in occupied Kherson region, and evacuate about 750 people. The operation was a rare instance of cooperation since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in 2022, and Ukraine hopes to use it as a model for reaching civilians in other occupied areas.

The truce ran from 27 October to 1 November and involved 25 buses; roughly a quarter of those evacuated chose to go to Russia and the rest to Ukraine. About 2,000 people remain in Oleshky, and volunteers said some evacuation requests could not be met, including those from people with reduced mobility. Ukraine’s human rights commissioner plans to establish a centre to improve coordination, while disputes over alleged military movements and a deadly Russian strike on an aid centre near Zaporizhzhia underline how fragile the cooperation remains.