Ukrainians return from frontline city Oleshky after years of occupation

Olha uses a single word to describe what life has been like in the frontline city of Oleshky over the past few years: horror. Disembarking alongside her from a coach in the Ukrainian region of Chernihiv with their immediate family and dog, her husband Viacheslav put it this way: we came back from hell. The couple were among hundreds of residents evacuated from the Russian-occupied city who crossed into northern Ukraine via Belarus on Saturday, many reuniting with loved ones they had not seen for years.

Oleshky, seized by Russia during the first few days of its full-scale invasion in February 2022, is trapped on one side by the Dnipro River and on the other by Russian forces. Olha and Viacheslav had lived there with their adult son and daughter. Even as shelling intensified, they feared escaping could be even more dangerous due to mined routes and drone attacks. As supplies dwindled, the couple attempted to find food by crossing minefields earlier this month, where people were stepping on mines and dying just to survive, while those too afraid to venture out resorted to cooking garden weeds.

An opportunity to leave emerged this week when a humanitarian ceasefire, brokered by US First Lady Melania Trump, took effect in the Kherson region, providing the first few days of peace in four years and allowing residents to evacuate. Up to 6,000 people were believed to still be living in Oleshky and surrounding areas, with 1,700 in the city itself. Residents were given a four-hour window on Friday to leave via a convoy of 25 buses for up to 750 evacuees, alongside ambulances. After travelling through Russian-occupied territory to southern Russia and flying to Belarus, evacuees arrived by bus at a military facility in Chernihiv on Saturday.

"We came back from hell."

Viacheslav

On the tarmac where evacuees were processed, Mykhailo Palii arrived to an emotional embrace as his daughters Dasha and Anya, who thought they might never see him again, sprinted across the tarmac screaming and crying. Meanwhile, Tetiana and Volodymyr, a couple carrying a cat upon arrival in Chernihiv, stated their home was burned down three years ago, forcing them to live in an abandoned neighbour's house. While relieved to escape, survivors expressed deep concern for those left behind, noting that many people remain trapped living under those harsh conditions.