Ukraine and Russia have agreed on technical details of the evacuation of about 6,000 civilians from the Oleshki district in the temporarily occupied part of the Kherson region. As Ukrinform reports, this was stated by the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets, the PromPolitInform portal reports.
According to him, among the people who need to be evacuated, there are approximately 200 Ukrainian children. Currently, the Ukrainian side is waiting for a date from Russia when the ceasefire will be launched and the actual evacuation will begin.
Lubinets clarified that this is not only about Oleshki, but also about several settlements around the city. The evacuation should take place to the territory controlled by the government of Ukraine.
The Ombudsman noted that it is impossible to evacuate people directly across the river from a military point of view. Therefore, several route options were discussed. According to Lubinets, the parties found an option that can be implemented quite quickly: first, civilians should be evacuated from settlements to a relatively safe place, from where the Ukrainian side will pick them up.
Lubinets called the situation in Oleshki a humanitarian catastrophe. According to him, people live in basements, active hostilities are ongoing nearby, drones are being used, food is almost gone and there is not enough drinking water.
Ukraine sent its first appeal to the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Russian side regarding evacuation from these settlements back in early March. Since then, according to Lubinets, the situation has deteriorated significantly.
This evacuation is of critical humanitarian importance for Ukraine. If the process really begins, it will allow thousands of civilians to be evacuated from the zone of constant danger and returned to the territory controlled by Ukraine. At the same time, the main risk remains in Russia’s position: without an agreed ceasefire date, the physical evacuation cannot start safely.
