Ukraine and Russia are nearing an agreement on the final details of civilian evacuation from the front-line town of Oleshky and nearby settlements in the Russian-occupied part of Kherson Oblast, Ukrainian Human Rights Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said on Oct. 18.
Oleshky has been under Russian occupation since the early days of the full-scale invasion. Residents face severe shortages of food, water, and electricity, while mined roads, constant drone attacks, and interrogations by Russian troops at checkpoints make safe evacuation virtually impossible.
The two sides are discussing a local ceasefire to allow residents to be evacuated directly to Ukrainian-controlled territory, rather than having to travel first through Russian-occupied areas and then through Russia and Belarus, Lubinets said in an interview with Ukrainian broadcaster Espreso.
"We are making as much progress as possible. We are now moving toward agreeing on the final details to ensure a ceasefire and evacuate everyone ... directly to territory controlled by the Ukrainian government," Lubinets said.
Lubinets did not specify what direct evacuation to Ukrainian territory entails, but one possible option is to transfer civilians across the Dnipro River to the Ukrainian-controlled western bank.
He added that Kyiv has been holding daily negotiations to unblock the humanitarian evacuation and that Moscow has begun considering a proposal Kyiv put forward long ago.
"We still have some difficult issues to resolve, but I hope that in the near future we will all see concrete results from these negotiations," Lubinets said.
No final agreement has been publicly announced, and it remains unclear when an evacuation could begin.
Lubinets said on Sept. 16 that more than 6,000 people possibly remain in Oleshky and the surrounding area, including about 200 children. His office said it had verified 358 people who urgently need assistance to leave safely.
While Russian troops occupy Oleshky and the eastern bank of the Dnipro River, the Ukrainian military controls the western bank. Russian troops use towns and villages on the eastern bank to launch attacks across the river, including on the liberated city of Kherson.
Russian forces have been preventing Ukraine and international humanitarian organizations from accessing the occupied territories to provide aid.
In September, 12 people from Oleshky reached Ukrainian-controlled territory, Tetiana Hasanenko, the exiled head of the Oleshky City Military Administration, told the Kyiv Independent on Oct. 6.
In spring, evacuation volunteers still managed to help people from Oleshky leave for other occupied settlements in Kherson Oblast or Ukrainian-controlled areas in exhausting multiday trips through Russia and Belarus. Now, they said, the risk of Russian attacks and mines has made organized evacuation impossible.
In recent weeks, some residents have started walking out of Oleshky alone or in pairs to the neighboring village of Radensk on roads mined by Russian forces.