The evacuees arrived in Gomel from Anapa, where they were brought by bus on Friday through annexed Crimea. Arakhamia said that within a few hours all Ukrainian citizens, together with the Ukrainian delegation, will be on Ukrainian territory.
BelTA, the Belarusian state news agency, reported that the entire airport complex was used to receive the Oleshky residents who chose to leave for Ukraine, and a full tent camp was set up. Those who arrived include children, people with limited mobility and pets.
Oleshky residents who chose to live in Russia were taken to a temporary accommodation center in Simferopol, TASS reported.
More than 750 people left the city in total, U.S. first lady Melania Trump said. It is not yet known how many of them chose to go to Ukraine and how many to Russia.
The Ukrainian and Russian delegations arrived in Oleshky on October 30. Humanitarian aid was delivered to the city: food, medicines, drinking water, hygiene supplies and fuel for generators.
The humanitarian operation took place under a local ceasefire in effect from October 27 until late in the evening of November 1. The operation was coordinated by the human rights commissioners of Russia and Ukraine, with mediation by U.S. first lady Melania Trump.
Oleshky has been under Russian occupation since 2022. In recent months, the city's residents have lived on the brink of starvation amid an acute humanitarian crisis.