Ukraine seeks to arrange another evacuation for Oleshky residents, Lubinets said

Ukrainian authorities are exploring the possibility of organizing an additional safe evacuation for residents of Oleshky and other settlements in the surrounding area, Ukraine's human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said on Nov. 10.

The statement came after a successful humanitarian mission alongside a local ceasefire in Kherson Oblast concluded on Nov. 1.

According to Lubinets, after the initial evacuation, his office continues to receive calls and inquiries from residents of Oleshky and the Oleshky community.

"People who have seen that the safe evacuation process has worked are now also expressing their wish to leave for territory controlled by the Government of Ukraine," Lubinets said.

To conduct another evacuation, Lubinets said, the relevant humanitarian and security conditions must be agreed upon, adding that as soon as a safe mechanism is established, people seeking evacuation will receive necessary information.

"We are continuing to gather and update information on each of these individuals (who want to leave)... We are paying particular attention to the elderly, people with reduced mobility, people with disabilities, the seriously ill, and families with children," Lubinets said.

Oleshky residents already evacuated confirmed to the Kyiv Independent on Oct. 31 at the border that some people who remained in Oleshky "regret not having left."

"Those who remained now regret they didn't go with us," Alla Tyshenko, an evacuated Oleshky resident, said.

Another evacuated Oleshky resident, Olha Liutikova, told the Kyiv Independent that some people were too afraid to evacuate because they did not trust Russia to adhere to the ceasefire.

While Ukraine is willing to continue rescuing civilians in endangered areas, the Kremlin has publicly ruled out further humanitarian operations in the foreseeable future.

The exact number of people still remaining in Oleshky cannot currently be verified, Lubinets said on Nov. 2, answering a question from the Kyiv Independent. Ukraine, as well, cannot reveal the number of evacuees as stipulated by an agreement with Russia, he added.

Mined roads, constant drone attacks, and Russian interrogations at checkpoints made independent evacuation extremely dangerous. In September, one person was killed, and four others were injured by landmines while attempting to flee Oleshky.

The Oleshky community includes 13 settlements, five of which have been completely destroyed, Ukrainian authorities told the Kyiv Independent.

The worsening humanitarian situation has been spreading across the surrounding settlements, leaving more civilians trapped in critical conditions.

"Oleshky is not the only place where there is hunger," Stefan Vorontsov, a volunteer coordinator with the Humanity NGO, said in September.

"Ukrainian villages around it — Hola Prystan, Radensk — the geography of the problem is getting bigger," Vorontsov added.

Before the war, Oleshky had a population of around 24,000. By October, before the evacuation, only around 2,000 people, including about 50 children, were believed to remain there, according to Ukrainian officials.

Under international humanitarian law, Russia is obligated to protect civilians living in territories under its occupation.