Starved Ukrainians who ate grass to survive reach home from Russian-occupied Oleshky under a truce brokered by Melania Trump
Residents evacuated from Russian-occupied Oleshky have now crossed the border into Ukraine and are safe, in a picture posted on X by Anton Gerashchenko.Evacuees from Russian-occupied Oleshky, whose residents survived on grass and lost 20 kg or more before Saturday's evacuation, which President Volodymyr Zelensky said was brokered with direct help from the United States and Melania Trump.Rescue workers carry caged cats evacuated from Oleshky; some returnees from the occupied city were so weakened by starvation they had to be carried off buses on stretchers.A heavily damaged commercial building amid rubble in Oleshky, the Russian-occupied city whose civilians were evacuated on Saturday via a complex route through Crimea, Russia's Anapa and Belarus.
Hundreds of residents from the frontline city of Oleshky crossed into Ukraine on Saturday after a six-day humanitarian ceasefire — the longest pause in fighting since Russia's full-scale invasion — brokered by US First Lady Melania Trump with support from Pope Leo XIV. Evacuee Ivan Yevhenovych, 48, arrived with hands still shaking, saying landmines and drone strikes had made daily life in the city almost unsurvivable since spring.
The oldest returnee was 94; the youngest a baby just over one; one elderly man in a wheelchair had lost 20 kg over the past year.
Residents travelled via Crimea and the Russian town of Anapa, flew to Belarus, then crossed into Ukraine's Chernihiv region — greeted with borscht, flags and tearful embraces.
President Zelenskyy wrote: 'When the world pays attention, people are rescued' and called for 'further steps toward de-escalation'.
