EVACUEES FROM RUSSIAN-occupied Oleshky have crossed into Ukrainian-held territory in a major rescue operation carried out under the most significant truce since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than four years ago.

Travellers wrapped in blue and yellow Ukrainian flags stepped off buses at the Ukraine-Belarus border, where they were reunited with family members

The civilians had travelled by bus and plane through Russia and Belarus, after a deal was brokered by US first lady Melania Trump.

Ukrainian authorities imposed restrictions on disclosing the number of evacuees or the border crossing location, to safeguard those who chose to remain in Oleshky as well as to protect future humanitarian missions, the organisers said.

The ceasefire in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region, which began at 3am on Tuesday, is expected to continue until Sunday evening.

The estimated 2,000 remaining residents of Oleshky were offered the choice of travelling to Ukrainian or Russian-held territory, or remaining in the city with replenished food and medical supplies.

Those who chose to return to Ukraine were taken to the Russian city of Anapa then flown to Homel in Belarus, from where they proceeded back home.

Relatives waited at the Ukrainian-Belarusian border, along with aid tents, coffee stands and even provisions to feed evacuees’ pets. Volunteers from organisations including the Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders and the World Central Kitchen were also there.

Russia’s ombudsman and lead representative on the mission, Yana Lantratova, said buses also transported Oleshky residents who wanted to live in Russia. Russian media outlets on Saturday showed civilians arriving at a temporary accommodation site in Simferopol on the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014.

Residents of Oleshky have been evacuated from their Russian-occupied home town. Efrem Lukatsky / AP Efrem Lukatsky / AP / AP

Russia and Ukraine have not specified how many people chose to leave the city, but Trump posted on social media on Friday that the humanitarian convoy could safely evacuate more than 750 people.

Pope Leo XIV — the first American pontiff — also pressed Russian and Ukrainian leaders to allow aid deliveries and civilian evacuations.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday welcomed US approval of Ukraine’s purchase of 500 PAC-3 Patriot interceptors but urged partners to supply the weapons from existing stocks to protect the country this winter, warning the newly authorised US sale could take years to deliver.

“Right now, the Russians are attacking our energy infrastructure every single day. In just these past two weeks of October, there have already been more than 30 Russian strikes on critical parts of our power grid,” Zelenskyy wrote.

The Trump administration said on Friday that it had approved a proposed 2.1 billion dollar (€1.88 billion) (£1.5 billion) sale of Patriot air defence interceptors, after Kyiv had accused the Pentagon of delaying deliveries of the vital munition needed to stop Russian ballistic missiles.

The US State Department said 500 Patriot missiles would be purchased for Ukraine with donations from Canada, Germany and Norway through a US programme and that no American funds were involved.

Meanwhile, a Ukrainian drone attack killed a 30-year-old woman and a 41-year-old man in Russia’s western Bryansk region, local governor Yegor Kovalchuk said on Saturday. Another five people were wounded, he added.

Ukrainian ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets, left, speaks with residents of Oleshky during their evacuation Office of the Ombudsman of Ukraine / AP Office of the Ombudsman of Ukraine / AP / AP

Local officials also reported Ukrainian drone attacks in the Russian Republic of Bashkortostan. Russian media outlets said there was a fire in the region’s capital, Ufa, home to several oil refineries.

Russia’s Ministry of Defence said on Saturday that its forces had shot down 433 Ukrainian drones overnight.

Zelensky said Moscow launched drone attacks on energy and railway infrastructure across Ukraine overnight, leaving 280,000 households in the Dnipro and Kyiv regions without power.

The attacks targeted combined heat and power plants in the Kyiv and Sumy regions, four electricity substations and a gas distribution facility in Dnipro and railway infrastructure in Dnipro and Kharkiv, he said, adding that repair crews were working to restore power.

Zelensky urged partners to impose further sanctions on Moscow and provide new support packages to Ukraine.

“The world sees Russia targeting civilian infrastructure every day. Everyone who does not want to see this Russian escalation spread further into Europe must help Ukraine,” he said in an online post.