CEASEFIRE ALLOWS HUNDREDS TO LEAVE OCCUPIED OLESHKY

Hundreds of residents have been evacuated from the Russian-occupied town of Oleshky, in Ukraine's Kherson region, under a local humanitarian ceasefire. The pause was brokered with mediation from US First Lady Melania Trump, and Ukrainian officials said the Pope was also involved. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukrainian citizens from Oleshky had crossed into Ukraine's Chernihiv region, and thanked the US and Melania Trump for their mediation. Evacuees travelled by bus via Russian-occupied Crimea to Anapa in Russia, then flew to Gomel in Belarus, before crossing by bus into Chernihiv. One elderly woman said she had escaped "from hell" as she stepped off a bus.

The ceasefire in the Kherson frontline region has held since Tuesday without reported violations, and officials from both countries called it the longest local pause in fighting since Russia's 2022 invasion. It allowed roads out of Oleshky to be demined, letting food and medicine reach a town where supply routes had been disrupted by fighting and drones. A convoy of 25 buses and ambulances allowed up to 750 residents to leave during a four-hour window on Friday. Several hundred others chose to remain in a town without gas, electricity or running water. Many evacuees were elderly, with some needing help to walk or carried on stretchers; dogs in cages were also evacuated.

Ukraine's ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets and Russian counterpart Yana Lantratova travelled to Oleshky together on Friday to help organise the evacuation. Lantratova said the operation "unfolded without any incidents." The two ombudsmen asked Melania Trump to coordinate similar humanitarian missions on a regular basis. Melania Trump said safe passage for the convoy "was established through mutual agreement between Russian and Ukrainian leaders."