Ukraine and Russia agree on technical steps to evacuate 6,000 civilians from Oleshky area

Ukraine and Russia have agreed on the technical details of evacuating approximately 6,000 civilians from the area around Oleshky, including an estimated 200 children. Kyiv is now waiting for the Russian side to set a date for a ceasefire to begin the physical evacuation.

According to an Ukrinform correspondent, this was stated by Dmytro Lubinets, Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, during a press briefing following the presentation of the project “Made in Russia. Delivered to Captivity.”

“Regarding Oleshky, we held negotiations on May 15. This does not concern only evacuations from Oleshky – we named several settlements. Essentially, this is the area around Oleshky. We are talking about the evacuation of approximately 6,000 Ukrainian civilians, including, according to our information, about 200 Ukrainian children. As of today, we have technically discussed all issues. We are waiting for a date from the Russian side when a ceasefire will be introduced and the physical evacuation will begin,” he said.

Lubinets clarified that the evacuation is planned toward Ukrainian-controlled territory.

“Considering that crossing the river is not possible from a military point of view, several options were proposed. We found one option that can be implemented relatively quickly, and Ukrainian citizens should first be evacuated from these settlements to a conditionally safe location, from where the Ukrainian side will take them and return them to territory controlled by the Ukrainian government,” he explained.

The Ombudsman also stressed that the situation in Oleshky constitutes a humanitarian catastrophe.

“Every day, people are not just under threat of death – it is happening every day. People are sitting in basements, active combat is taking place there, including drone strikes and bombings. Food is nearly exhausted, and there is insufficient drinking water. In my view, this humanitarian catastrophe has been ongoing for several months,” he said.

He recalled that the first appeal to the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Russian side regarding civilian evacuation from these settlements was made in early March. According to Lubinets, the situation has since significantly worsened, and it is currently impossible to verify how many civilians have already been killed in Oleshky.

As reported by Ukrinform, on May 15, negotiations were held regarding urgent humanitarian evacuation from the settlements of Oleshky, Stara Zburiivka, Nova Zburiivka, Hola Prystan, and others.