Oleshky evacuees reach Belarus in Ukraine-Russia truce

Residents of Oleshky, a Russian-occupied city in southern Ukraine, arrived in Belarus on Saturday after being evacuated under a rare truce between Ukraine and Russia, authorities on both sides confirmed.

Ukrainian politician David Arakhamia said the fourth and final plane had landed in Gomel, Belarus, and that Ukrainian citizens evacuated from Oleshky, along with a Ukrainian delegation, would be back on Ukrainian soil within hours.

Russia's defence ministry earlier said residents who had expressed a desire to return to Ukraine were travelling to Gomel with Ukrainian human rights mediator Dmytro Lubinets.

US First Lady Melania Trump last week announced the truce, which was intended to allow aid into Oleshky, a frontline city in the Kherson region that has faced a severe humanitarian crisis for several weeks.

Kyiv has estimated that about 2,000 residents remained in Oleshky before the humanitarian operation, compared with 24,000 before Russia's invasion. Neither Moscow nor Kyiv has specified how many people were evacuated. Authorities in both countries had previously indicated that many residents wanted to stay in the city, even if fighting resumed.

The truce is due to end on Sunday evening.