Hundreds evacuated from Oleshky reunite with families in Ukraine
What's next: evacuees who fled via Russia and Belarus now need housing, medical care and help resettling after years under occupation.
Hundreds of residents evacuated from the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky crossed from Belarus into Ukraine on Saturday, reuniting with relatives after years of separation. The evacuation followed a temporary ceasefire in the Kherson region that opened a four-hour window for people to leave on Friday. Residents traveled through occupied territory to southern Russia, then flew to Belarus before reaching Ukraine by bus and ambulance. BBC reports described elderly evacuees arriving on stretchers and families embracing on the tarmac. Ukraine's human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said the oldest evacuee was 94 and the youngest was 1. Several hundred residents are believed to have stayed behind in the battered city.