Reunited after 1,711 days: Oleshky evacuees return to Ukraine under Melania Trump-brokered ceasefire

Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters

Dmytro had not seen his wife Larisa for 1,711 days. He had been counting.

Waiting near the border between Ukraine and Belarus, his nervous eyes were on the horizon, looking for the bus carrying Larisa and others fleeing the occupied southern Ukrainian town of Oleshky.

When the couple finally reunited on Saturday afternoon, both wrapped in Ukrainian flags, Dmytro didn’t hold back. He kissed her over and over again and held her in his arms with such a determination that it looked like he’d never let go of her again.

Hundreds of people – and many pets – arrived back in Ukraine on Saturday afternoon after being evacuated from the frontline city under a ceasefire that Pope Leo XIV called for and first lady Melania Trump helped to negotiate.

Larisa diminished frame – she has lost a third of her body weight under the occupation – looked almost lost in Dmytro’s hands. But she held her head high and her deep set blue eyes were sparkling with joy.

Asked how she was, Larisa spoke not about herself, but about others who are still suffering. “It’s very hard. It’s not just us who are struggling—it’s hard for everyone in the country; there are so many people in the same situation as me. There are people in different situations, and some are even worse off. We’re waiting for all this to end, for peace to come, and for victory,” she told CNN.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky announced the arrival of the evacuees on Telegram, thanking Trump for her help with the mediation.

“And I thank everyone in the world—all journalists, all political and civic leaders, and all concerned people—who drew global attention to the situation in Oleshky and the genuine humanitarian catastrophe in the territory of Ukraine temporarily occupied by Russia. When the world pays attention, people are saved,” he said.

Dmytro, whose last name cannot be published for security reasons, is a soldier in the Ukrainian military which made Larisa vulnerable when Russia took over Oleshky, their southern Ukrainian hometown.

The couple managed to get their daughter out, but Larisa was worried that if she tried to leave, she’d be picked up at a Russian military checkpoint during filtration – the humiliating and often violent questioning Ukrainians who found themselves under Russian occupation had to undergo before being allowed to leave for areas still under Ukrainian control.

So she stayed, hoping for a miracle. Instead, her life became a nightmare.

The town was hit by a major flood in 2023 after the nearby Nova Kakhovka Dam collapsed – most likely because of a Russian explosion. Several hundred people were reported to have died in the flooding and the town suffered major damage. The Russian-installed authorities were unable, or unwilling, to invest into repairs.

More destruction came in the subsequent years of heavy fighting in the area and the humanitarian situation has deteriorated in recent months. The town was reported by Ukrainian authorities to have ran out of food and other supplies in September, with no access to electricity, gas, medicine and other essentials. Reports from that time said people were surviving on grass and weeds.

The director of the Chernihiv Regional Hospital Andriy Zhydenko was waiting at the border with his staff to provide medical assistance to the evacuees. He told CNN the the effects of prolonged malnutrition will be a key concern, explaining that the evacuees will need to be fed carefully because they have been starving for so long that consuming too much food too quickly could be dangerous.

“There are people with injuries, stroke survivors, and those with limited mobility,” he said, adding that everyone at the hospital was overjoyed to be welcoming Ukrainian citizens home. “All of my staff wanted to come here. People have suffered greatly there. There is no humanity.”

Tamara, another Oleshky resident who arrived at the border on Saturday, told CNN she was initially reluctant to evacuate because of her animals. But her health has deteriorated and without access to medicine, she felt like she had no choice.

“I’m sick. And there was no medicine. As for food lately… well, we haven’t seen any meat, we haven’t seen any vegetables or fruit—they haven’t been delivered to us,” she told CNN.

“I was afraid to evacuate, but I’ve come to accept it because staying is scary, too. I have health problems, and there are the animals, but it’s impossible to live there anymore. I didn’t want to spend another winter there.”

Some 40% of Oleshky’s prewar population of around 24,000 managed to flee to Ukraine-controlled territory when it was still possible early in the fighting, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a US-based conflict observer. Thousands of others have escaped since then, but many remained, either unable or unwilling to leave.

Zhanna Ptakhova and her daughers Elizaveta and Daria Paliy were among those who made it out when it was still possible.

But Ptakhova’s husband, and Elizaveta’s and Daria’s father, stayed in Oleshky. He was going to taking care of their home until they could safely return.

But that has not happened. “The conditions were terrible. No electricity, no gas, no heat - but he’s a man with golden hands,” Ptakhova told CNN.

“He took a house that had been adapted for modern civilian life and turned it into a home suited for a primitive lifestyle; he built a stove, raised chickens to feed himself, planted a garden, and through his own hard work, he survived there,” she said.

The family was going to be reunited after three years apart.

Access routes to Oleshky have been heavily mined and littered with drone and vehicle debris and evacuation across the Dnipro River directly into Ukraine-controlled territory is not possible.

That made the journey out long and scary. Ukraine’s ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets traveled to Oleshky to personally escort the evacuees into Ukraine-controlled territory, becoming the first high-profile Ukrainian official to openly travel to occupied areas under Russian control and Russia since the start of the war.

Once a two-day demining operation was completed on Thurday, people who wanted to leave gathered on Friday and traveled through the occupied Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea to Anapa in Russia’s Krasnodar region.

The evacuees then flew from Anapa airport to Gomel, Belarus, according to the Russian Defense Ministry and Ukrainian officials, and then traveled by bus to Ukraine.

瓦伦丁·奥吉连科/路透社

德米特罗已经1711天没见到妻子拉里萨了。他一直在数着日子。

在乌克兰和白俄罗斯边境附近等待时，他紧张的目光投向地平线，寻找载着拉里萨和其他人逃离被占领的乌克兰南部城镇奥列什基的巴士。

周六下午，这对情侣终于重逢，两人都裹着乌克兰国旗。德米特罗毫不掩饰自己的激动，一遍又一遍地亲吻她，紧紧地抱着她，仿佛再也不想放开她似的。

周六下午，数百人（以及许多宠物）在教皇利奥十四世呼吁、第一夫人梅拉尼娅·特朗普帮助斡旋达成的停火协议下，从前线城市撤离后返回乌克兰。

拉里萨身形消瘦——在占领期间她瘦了三分之一的体重——在德米特罗的怀抱里显得几乎失去了灵魂。但她昂首挺胸，深邃的蓝眼睛里闪烁着喜悦的光芒。

当被问及近况时，拉里萨没有谈及自己，而是谈到了其他仍在遭受苦难的人们。“这太难了。不仅仅是我们，全国上下都面临着同样的困境；有太多人和我处境相同。当然也有人处境不同，有些人甚至更糟。我们都在等待这一切结束，等待和平到来，等待胜利，”她告诉CNN。

乌克兰总统泽连斯基在 Telegram 上宣布了撤离人员的抵达，并感谢特朗普在调解过程中提供的帮助。

“我感谢全世界所有人——所有记者、所有政治和公民领袖，以及所有关心此事的人们——感谢他们让全世界关注奥列什基的局势，以及俄罗斯暂时占领的乌克兰领土上发生的真正的人道主义灾难。当世界关注此事时，人们就能得救，”他说。

出于安全原因，不能透露姓氏的德米特罗是乌克兰军队的一名士兵，当俄罗斯占领他们位于乌克兰南部的家乡奥列什基时，这使得拉里萨变得很脆弱。

这对夫妇设法把女儿救了出来，但拉里萨担心，如果她试图离开，会在俄罗斯军事检查站接受“过滤”（即对被俄罗斯占领的乌克兰人进行羞辱性且往往带有暴力性质的盘问，在被允许前往仍由乌克兰控制的地区之前必须经历的盘问）时被抓获。

于是她留了下来，盼望奇迹发生。然而，她的生活却变成了噩梦。

2023年，附近的诺瓦卡霍夫卡大坝溃坝，很可能是俄罗斯引爆所致，导致该镇遭受严重洪灾。据报道，数百人在洪灾中丧生，该镇也遭受了巨大损失。俄罗斯扶植的当局无力或不愿投入资金进行修复。

在随后几年该地区持续不断的激烈战斗中，破坏进一步加剧，近几个月来人道主义局势持续恶化。据乌克兰当局报告，该镇在9月份耗尽了食物和其他物资，电力、天然气、药品和其他必需品均无法获得。当时的报道称，人们只能靠吃草和野菜勉强维持生命。

切尔尼戈夫州立医院院长安德烈·日坚科和他的工作人员在边境等候，准备为撤离人员提供医疗援助。他告诉CNN，长期营养不良的影响将是一个主要问题，并解释说，由于撤离人员长期处于饥饿状态，需要谨慎喂养，快速摄入过多食物可能会很危险。

他说：“这里有受伤的人、中风幸存者，还有行动不便的人。”他还补充道，医院里的每个人都非常高兴能够迎接乌克兰公民回家。“我的所有员工都想来这里。那里的人们遭受了巨大的苦难。那里毫无人性可言。”

另一位奥列什基居民塔玛拉周六抵达边境，她告诉CNN，起初她因为要照顾牲畜而犹豫不决。但她的健康状况恶化，又无法获得药品，她觉得自己别无选择。

“我病了。而且没有药。至于最近的食物……唉，我们没见过肉，没见过蔬菜水果——都没人给我们送来，”她告诉CNN。

“我一开始很害怕撤离，但后来接受了现实，因为留下来也很可怕。我有健康问题，还有动物们，但那里已经无法继续生活下去了。我不想在那里再过一个冬天。”

据总部位于美国的冲突观察机构“战争研究所”（ISW）称，奥列什基战前约2.4万人口中，约有40%的人在战争初期趁着逃亡机会逃往乌克兰控制区。此后，又有数千人逃离，但仍有许多人留了下来，他们要么无力离开，要么不愿离开。

扎娜·普塔霍娃和她的女儿伊丽莎白和达莉娅·帕利是当时还有机会逃出去的人之一。

但普塔霍娃的丈夫，也就是伊丽莎白和达莉娅的父亲，留在了奥列什基。他要照看他们的家，直到他们能够安全返回。

但这种情况并没有发生。“条件非常糟糕。没有电，没有煤气，没有暖气——但他有一双金手，”普塔霍娃告诉CNN。

“他把一栋原本为现代民居改造的房子变成了一栋适合原始生活方式的房屋；他自己造了炉灶，养鸡养活自己，种了菜园，靠着自己的辛勤劳动，在那里生存了下来，”她说。

一家人分开三年后即将团聚。

通往奥列什基的道路布满了地雷，到处都是无人机和车辆残骸，无法直接通过第聂伯河撤离到乌克兰控制区。

这使得撤离之旅漫长而可怕。乌克兰人权事务专员德米特罗·卢比涅茨前往奥列什基，亲自护送撤离人员进入乌克兰控制区，成为自战争开始以来首位公开前往俄罗斯控制的被占领土和俄罗斯境内的乌克兰高级官员。

周四为期两天的排雷行动结束后，想要离开的人们于周五聚集起来，穿过被占领的乌克兰克里米亚半岛，前往俄罗斯克拉斯诺达尔边疆区的阿纳帕。

据俄罗斯国防部和乌克兰官员称，撤离人员随后从阿纳帕机场飞往白俄罗斯戈梅利，然后乘公共汽车前往乌克兰。