An aid convoy began moving overnight towards the Russian-held town of Oleshky in southern Ukraine, carrying food, medical supplies and other essential items after weeks of efforts to organise a relief operation for its residents, the Russian newspaper Izvestia reported on Friday.
The operation follows an agreement between Moscow and Kyiv to establish a ceasefire around the town, allowing humanitarian assistance to enter and residents to leave. Oleshky was captured by Russian forces shortly after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Video footage released by Russian state television channel Vesti showed Ukraine’s human rights commissioner, Dmytro Lubinets, meeting his Russian counterpart, Yana Lantratova, at night. Both officials wore patches displaying their countries’ national flags.
“Is everything all right?” Lantratova asked in Russian in the footage. “Yes, we were warmly welcomed,” Lubinets replied in Ukrainian.
Vesti said the meeting took place in Oleshky. Lantratova said a fleet of 25 buses, with a combined capacity of at least 750 passengers, was ready to evacuate residents wishing to leave the town. The arrangements also included provision for people to take their pets.
Russian news agencies quoted Lantratova as saying that Russia and Ukraine were adhering to their agreements and that the ceasefire was holding to facilitate the delivery of aid. She said the two human rights commissioners and the United States had helped mediate the arrangement.
Journalists from several countries, including France, Italy, Russia, Ukraine and the United States, were accompanying the convoy, according to Izvestia.
The humanitarian operation became possible after Russia and Ukraine announced on Thursday that demining work around Oleshky had been completed. The two sides had said the operation was ready to proceed, enabling aid deliveries and the evacuation of some residents.
However, the demining effort had come at a cost. Lantratova said on Friday that two people had been killed during the operation.
The developments in Oleshky came amid renewed Russian attacks elsewhere in Ukraine. Ukrainian officials said Russia had struck an industrial facility near Kremenchuk, as well as the capital, Kyiv, and Kharkiv, the country’s second-largest city, causing fires.
The strikes followed attacks a day earlier that included a deadly assault on a railway station in Dnipro and missile strikes targeting Kyiv. Ukrainian officials reported the latest attacks through the Telegram messaging platform.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said on Friday that its forces had struck military facilities in Ukraine. It also reported attacks on energy infrastructure in and around Kyiv and in the Dnipropetrovsk region, as well as port facilities in the Odesa region and cargo vessels it claimed were being used by the Ukrainian military.
Meanwhile, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said Russian air defences had intercepted most of more than 850 drones heading towards the capital overnight.
