Residents of Oleshky who want to leave for Ukraine are planned to be flown out on a military plane via Anapa to Homel

Residents of occupied Oleshky in the Kherson region who want to return to Ukrainian-controlled territory are planned to be taken out on a Russian military plane via Anapa and Belarus. This is indicated by documents, photographs of which were published by Fox News.

The route is as follows: people will first be brought to the closed Vityazevo airport in Anapa, put on a Russian Defence Ministry military transport plane and sent to Homel on 31 October. According to the plan, the journey will begin in Oleshky itself and pass through Russia and Belarus.

Those who want to go to Russia will also first be brought to Anapa, and from there sent to Moscow.

Russia and Ukraine agreed on a local ceasefire in Oleshky on 23 October. The White House said the ceasefire was needed to deliver humanitarian aid and prepare the evacuation of civilians along a designated safe corridor. The agreement was reached with the mediation of US First Lady Melania Trump, and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also confirmed it.

The agreement was signed by Russia's human rights commissioner Yana Lantratova and the Verkhovna Rada ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets. As early as 19 October, Lubinets said that the details of the ceasefire and of the evacuation of everyone who wanted to go directly to Ukrainian territory were being agreed.

On 26 October, Putin told Finnish President Alexander Stubb about the start of a humanitarian operation in Oleshky. A six-day ceasefire came into force overnight on 27 October. The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said the date had shifted: 29 October had been named earlier.

The evacuation became possible after non-public talks between Russia and Ukraine with US participation. The ceasefire is reported to last until the night of 1 November. On 31 October, the Ukrainian delegation and the residents who decide to leave are to travel from Oleshky to the Anapa airport.

According to the published plan, food, clean water, medicines and doctors are also to be delivered to Oleshky. The document also mentions subsequent repatriation measures in the Kherson region: they are planned to be held at least once a month with the assistance and coordination of Melania Trump.

Melania Trump has said that the evacuation will go in both directions: those who wish will be sent to both Russia and Ukraine. According to Lantratova, most residents who wanted to leave have already left the city. The Financial Times, citing sources, wrote that people would first be sent to Crimea, and Ukrainska Pravda wrote that residents are afraid to leave through occupied territories because of filtration and possible interrogations.

The group of residents will be accompanied by a Ukrainian delegation led by Lubinets. This is the first time since the start of the war that a Ukrainian ombudsman will go to Russia. The Russian ombudsman Yana Lantratova will also fly to Belarus together with the evacuees.

Russian troops seized Oleshky on the left bank of the Dnipro in the first days of the full-scale war in 2022, and the city is on the front line. After the destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric plant a year later, about 90% of the city's territory was destroyed, according to the Ukrainian outlet uatv.ua.

Residents had been seeking evacuation for more than a year. According to Ukrainian authorities, about 2000 people remain in the city, almost fifty of them children. Volunteers speak of cases of death from hunger. Russian authorities put the responsibility on Ukraine: Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova explained the supply problems by the proximity of Ukrainian positions and by artillery and drone shelling.