Evacuees from Russian-occupied Oleshky crossed into Ukrainian-held territory Saturday in a major rescue operation carried out under the most significant truce since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine 4 1/2 years ago.
asserted
Evacuees → occupy → Ukraine
Evacuees, who traveled by bus and plane through Russia and Belarus, stepped off buses at the Ukrainian-Belarusian border where they reunited with family members, some wrapped in blue and yellow Ukrainian flags.
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some → travel → flags
Volunteers with hand-drawn welcome signs handed out coffee to the weary travelers.
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Volunteers → draw → travelers
One evacuee, Tetiana Leonidivna, 71, thanked the Ukrainian soldiers who helped her escape.
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her → thank → soldiers
“We love them, we love them,” she said through tears.
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she → love → tears
“We know that they are protecting us.
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they → know → us
The ceasefire in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region began early Tuesday and is expected to continue through Sunday evening.
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ceasefire → begin → evening
The White House has said U.S. first lady Melania Trump helped to broker the localized deal, while Pope Leo XIV also pressed Russian and Ukrainian leaders to allow aid deliveries and civilian evacuations.
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XIV → say → deliveries
Evacuees and their families express fear and hope
Relatives and volunteers with the Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders and World Central Kitchen welcomed the evacuees as they arrived at the border, ready to provide aid and food, including for their pets.
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they → express → pets
Holding a cigarette between shaking fingers, 48-year-old Ivan Yevhenovych described his last few months in Oleshky.
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Yevhenovych → hold → Oleshky
There were a lot of drones; it was hard to move around the streets,” he said.
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he → be → streets
People had a little bit of their own reserves.
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People → have → reserves
He said people were being killed by landmines or drone strikes every day.
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people → say → landmines
An estimated 2,000 people were still living in Oleshky when the temporary truce took hold.
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truce → estimate → hold
They were offered the choice of being evacuated to Ukrainian- or Russian-held territory, or remaining in the city with replenished food and medical supplies.
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They → offer → food
“Many people stayed behind and didn’t want to leave,” Yevhenovych said.
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Yevhenovych → stay → ?
Ukrainian authorities, seeking to protect those who remained and safeguard future humanitarian missions, have not said how many residents evacuated Oleshky and have restricted details of their route.
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residents → seek → route
Melania Trump posted on social media Friday that the humanitarian convoy could safely evacuate more than 750 people.
uncertain
convoy → post → people
Liza Paliy, 19, waited at the border for her father, whom she last saw more than 2 1/2 years earlier when she fled the occupied city with her mother and sister.
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she → wait → mother
“We thought at that time that it would be a month, two maximum, and we would return, but unfortunately, two years have already passed,” she said.
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she → think → time
Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, hailed the success of the humanitarian mission.
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ombudsman → hail → mission
But most importantly, the people who waited so long to be rescued are finally safe,” he said in an online post.
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he → wait → post
Lubinets said evacuees ranged in age from just over a year old to 94, and they brought pets, including dogs, cats, a parrot and a raccoon.
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they → say → dogs
He said he hoped the Oleshky truce can be replicated elsewhere.
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truce → say → ?
“This experience could form the basis of a new mechanism for responding to the most difficult humanitarian crises — one that always puts people, their safety, and their right to life at its center,” he said.
uncertain
he → form → center
Evacuees also travel to Russian-controlled Crimea
Some Oleshky evacuees who chose to move to Russian-occupied territory have been taken to a temporary shelter in Simferopol, said Yana Lantratova, Russia’s human rights commissioner.
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Lantratova → travel → Simferopol
The city is in Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow annexed in 2014.
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Moscow → annex → 2014
“After everything they have endured and a long journey, it is essential for these people to rest, recover, and feel cared for.
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people → endure → everything
However, support should not be limited to just a roof over their heads and a hot meal,” she said in a social media post.
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she → limit → post
My office will assist in addressing these issues.”
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office → assist → issues
The US approves Patriot missile sale for Ukraine
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Saturday welcomed U.S. approval of Ukraine’s purchase of 500 PAC-3 Patriot interceptors but urged partners to also supply weapons from existing stocks, saying the newly authorized U.S. weapons could take years to arrive.
uncertain
weapons → approve → years
“Right now, the Russians are attacking our energy infrastructure every single day.
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Russians → attack → infrastructure
In just these past two weeks of October, there have already been more than 30 Russian strikes on critical parts of our power grid,” Zelenskyy wrote on X.
The Trump administration said Friday that it had approved a proposed $2.1 billion sale of Patriot air defense interceptors, after Kyiv had accused the Pentagon of delaying deliveries of the vital munition needed to stop Russian ballistic missiles.
The State Department said 500 Patriot missiles would be purchased for Ukraine with donations from Canada, Germany and Norway through a U.S. program and that no American funds were involved.
A Ukrainian drone attack kills 2 in Russia
asserted
attack → write → Russia
Meanwhile, a Ukrainian drone attack killed a 30-year-old woman and a 41-year-old man in Russia’s western Bryansk region, local Gov. Yegor Kovalchuk said Saturday.
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Kovalchuk → kill → region
Five others were wounded, he said.
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he → wound → ?
Local officials also reported Ukrainian drone attacks in the Russian republic of Bashkortostan.
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officials → report → Bashkortostan
Russian media outlets said there was a fire in the region’s capital, Ufa, home to several oil refineries.
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outlets → say → refineries
The Russian Defense Ministry said Saturday its forces had shot down 433 Ukrainian drones overnight.
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forces → say → drones
Zelenskyy said Moscow launched drone attacks on energy and railway infrastructure across Ukraine overnight, leaving 280,000 households in Dnipro and Kyiv regions without power.
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Moscow → say → power
The attacks targeted combined heat and power plants in Kyiv and Sumy regions, four electricity substations and a gas distribution facility in the Dnipro region and railway infrastructure in Dnipro and Kharkiv, he said, adding that repair crews were working to restore power.
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crews → target → power
…and 4 more, not listed.
The Aporia
