Ukraine and Russia have moved closer to agreeing on the final conditions for the evacuation of civilians from the occupied Oleshky hromada in the Kherson region. As Dmytro Lubinets, the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, stated on the Espresso TV channel, the Russian side has taken into consideration all the proposals previously submitted by Kyiv regarding the organization of people's departure, and the negotiations have moved on to discussing the final details. This is reported by RBC-Ukraine.
Negotiations Have Reached the Final Stage
According to the Ombudsman, the key remaining issue is ensuring the so-called silence regime, without which the safe departure of citizens from the occupied territories is impossible. «We are currently reaching an agreement on the final details regarding the enforcement of the silence regime and ensuring the evacuation of everyone willing not just from Oleshky, but directly into the territory controlled by the Ukrainian government,» Lubinets stated. He emphasized that negotiations with the Russian side are conducted daily and, in his estimation, the Ukrainian party has «made maximum progress», although the final terms have not yet been formalized.
Scale of the Operation: Six Settlements and Up to Six Thousand People
According to the Ukrainian side, the operation concerns not only Oleshky, but also six neighboring settlements in the Oleshky hromada. According to preliminary estimates, about six thousand civilians, including up to 200 children, may remain in these territories; in Oleshky itself, according to the same data, there are up to two thousand people. Lubinets acknowledged that complex issues remain between the parties, but expressed hope that the negotiations will yield concrete results in the near future.
Humanitarian Context: Blockade and Airdropped Aid
The situation in occupied Oleshky, as assessed by Kyiv, remains critical: the city has found itself under a humanitarian blockade, with local residents suffering from a shortage of food, drinking water, medicine, and electricity. The Ukrainian military has repeatedly delivered aid to the city using drones — food, medicine, and children's kits. This very humanitarian background essentially determines the urgency of agreeing on evacuation terms.
Diplomatic Pressure
The problem of Oleshky has also been brought to the international level. On September 30, Ukraine's Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha initiated an urgent review of the situation in Oleshky at a meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council. Thus, negotiations on the evacuation are being conducted in parallel with diplomatic pressure on the Russian side, while the agreement on the silence regime remains the main condition upon which the possibility of removing civilians to territory controlled by Kyiv depends.
