Russian and Ukrainian delegations met in person for the first time at Homel airport and flew out on one plane

On 29 October, the Russian and Ukrainian delegations taking part in the humanitarian operation in the Kherson direction met face to face for the first time, at Homel airport. The meeting took place in the presence of the Belarusian side.

According to Belarusian state media, the conversation began with handshakes, and the meeting had a positive tone from the first minutes. Before departure the delegations met at the airport: the Russian side had landed earlier, while the Ukrainian side arrived through the Nova Huta checkpoint.

On the morning of 29 October, a plane carrying the Russian delegation landed at Homel airport. It was led by Igor Kashin, deputy head of the Special Projects Department of the working apparatus of the Human Rights Commissioner in Russia. At about the same time, Ukrainian representatives headed by the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets, arrived at the Nova Huta checkpoint on the Belarusian-Ukrainian border. From there the delegation went to the airport.

Then one aircraft carrying representatives of both delegations took off from Homel airport.

The Ukrainian delegation left for Oleshky as part of a humanitarian mission. The Russian and Ukrainian delegations are taking part in halting hostilities in the area of Oleshky, on the left bank of the Dnipro in the Kherson region.

According to Belarusian state media, the sides, with the assistance of the United States, above all Melania Trump, agreed to a ceasefire in the Oleshky area. Non-state Belarusian publications report that the agreement was reached with the involvement of international mediators in order to deliver humanitarian aid and evacuate the civilian population.

Belarusian state media write that Minsk is taking part in the international process, is creating conditions for the first personal contact between representatives of Moscow and Kyiv, and acts as the guarantor of these processes. The same outlets claim that this participation continues Belarus's peaceful policy and its position as a mediator. This is the Belarusian side's own assessment.

According to the same reports, Belarus became the initial starting point of the process and began fulfilling its obligations under previously reached agreements.

Homel airport began operating on 27 January 1944, passenger flights began in 1968, and it received international status in 1993. In January 2024 the airport marked its 80th anniversary.

Humanitarian events have taken place before at the Nova Huta checkpoint in the Homel district: exchanges of prisoners of war and of the bodies of dead soldiers, and the reunification of Russian and Ukrainian citizens.

Oleshky lies on the left bank of the Dnipro, 5 km from Kherson, close to the front line, and in recent years it has regularly come under shelling. According to non-state Belarusian publications, the town is controlled by Russian forces, in recent months it was effectively blockaded, and a difficult humanitarian situation developed. The participation of US First Lady Melania Trump was also reported.

According to Fox News, after the mission in Oleshky Ukraine and Russia agreed on monthly aid for the Kherson region. When it will begin has not yet been reported.