Ukrainian pensioner tells how a Russian soldier held her at gunpoint for MOONSHINE as Oleshky evacuees finally reach freedom
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 Oleshky residents have crossed into Ukraine after a harrowing evacuation through Russian-occupied territory, Russia, and Belarus, arriving gaunt, wounded and weeping — some carried straight into ambulances. The 63-year-old pensioner Iva Sidash Raya, draped in a Ukrainian flag, described trembling as a Russian soldier forced his way into her home, threatened her with an automatic rifle, and demanded moonshine, leaving her so shaken she took two days to recover.
Evacuees poured from buses chanting 'Glory to Ukraine', many missing limbs or bearing visible wounds after months under occupation.
Melania Trump welcomed the mission's success, urging that Oleshky become 'the starting point for lasting peace' between Russia and Ukraine.
