180 residents evacuated from Kherson during brief truce
A localized ceasefire tied to an aid mission allowed Ukrainian teams to extract people from riverside villages cut off for nearly two years.
By Beatriz Soto ·
A temporary pause in fighting on Oct. 27 allowed 180 people to leave Kherson region communities that had been isolated for nearly two years. The evacuation included 23 children. Regional officials said these residents had been stranded in what is designated a red zone, the highest level of military danger.
The window for movement opened because of a humanitarian aid mission in the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky. Ukrainian regional officials, police, the Ukrainian Red Cross Society, and volunteers used this time to reach civilians on the Ukrainian side of the river. The truce ended Sunday night, just days after it began.
Nataliia Diadiuk, 53, remains in Kozatske, a village less than 1.2 miles from Russian-controlled territory. She is one of the few residents left. Diadiuk drinks rainwater collected and treated with chlorine, gathers firewood for heat, and listens to a radio for news. She uses a white towel on her gate and a white rag in her hand to signal to drone operators that she is a civilian.
Oleksii Shavokin, 54, also stayed behind. His house burned down in early 2023 after a mortar attack, but he repaired it. He now eats once a day in the evening and survives on old aid supplies and eggs from his hens. He has lost 66 pounds since the war began.
Oleh Tarabaka, head of the Nova Kakhovka city military administration, led teams trying to persuade residents to leave. He said many cannot afford to start over elsewhere and fear having no relatives to rely on. Tarabaka noted that without the quiet period, vehicles could not safely reach the villages.
The Ukrainian Red Cross Society usually evacuates about 10 people per week in the region. During the ceasefire week, the team evacuated 32 people from Kherson city. Mykola Taranenko, commander of the rapid response team, stated that some streets are so dangerous that slipping through is almost impossible without a truce.
Among those who left were Volodymyr and Kateryna Yakuba, both 77. They divorced more than 20 years ago but departed together to stay with their daughter in Odesa. Kateryna said they needed to get out before the cold sets in.
About 140,000 people remain in the Ukrainian-held part of the Kherson region. Before the war, the area had about 1 million residents. Nearly 70% of the region is now under Russian control. With the ceasefire over, residents face drones, artillery, and airdropped mines again.
