Starving residents of a Russian-held town in southern Ukraine began evacuating on Friday as part of a joint relief operation by the opposing sides, the first of its kind in four years and eight months of war.
Under a local ceasefire brokered by US first lady Melania Trump, an aid convoy arrived in the town of Oleshky and people were given the opportunity to leave.
Although it was a striking example of cooperation between the warring sides, the Kremlin described it as a special case that was “difficult to extrapolate” to the wider search for a peace settlement.
Attacks continued elsewhere, with Russian strikes overnight targeting seven regions of Ukraine as well as the capital Kyiv and the southeastern city of Dnipro, officials said.Russia said it had shot down 1,043 Ukrainian drones over its regions overnight.
On Thursday, a Russian drone killed at least 15 people on a rail platform in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro.
In Oleshky, Russian human rights commissioner Yana Lantratova said groups of people were boarding evacuation buses – some wishing to go to Russia and others to Ukraine.
It was not clear how many people were in each group, and how many residents, if any, had decided to stay.
Addressing Ukraine’s parliament on Friday, Prime Minister Sergiy Koretskyi said residents headed for Ukraine would travel through Russia to Belarus before entering the Kyiv and Chernihiv regions.
Lantratova, appearing side by side with her Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Lubinets, said food, hygiene products, medical supplies and fuel were being delivered to the town.
