Emotional scenes as some of the residents of the frontline city met relatives they had not seen for years (Reuters)
The evacuees arrived in Ukraine’s Chernihiv region on Saturday after travelling for nearly 19 hours to escape the humanitarian crisis in their city, according to BBC. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed the successful completion of the humanitarian operation, saying that all evacuated residents had crossed into Ukraine through the Chernihiv region.
He said roads leading to Oleshky were cleared of mines during the temporary ceasefire, allowing humanitarian supplies to be delivered and residents requiring evacuation to be brought out. Many times we were literally on a brink of death back there,” the resident said, adding that large craters had appeared in their vegetable garden. Nothing,” he told AFP, describing the struggle to find even basic food. He said residents planted vegetables and ate whatever was available to survive. Tetiana Hasanenko, one person was killed and four others injured by landmines while trying to flee the area in September, according to the head of the exiled Oleshky City Military Administration.
“Here, there are no drones or artillery shells flying right into your courtyard. “There was no bread. Destroyed bridges and mined roads made crossing directly towards Ukrainian positions extremely dangerous. Independent attempts to escape had also resulted in casualties.
The residents first travelled by bus to Armyansk in occupied Crimea, before continuing to Anapa in Russia’s Krasnodar region. From there, they boarded Russian government aircraft to Gomel in Belarus and finally travelled by bus across the border into Ukraine’s Chernihiv region.