Three planes carrying residents evacuated from the Russian-controlled Ukrainian town of Oleshky landed at Gomel airport in Belarus on Saturday, the Belta state news agency reported. The evacuees, who wish to leave for Ukraine, had travelled by bus via the Crimean peninsula to the Russian town of Anapa before flying to Belarus, and will proceed to Ukraine via a border crossing, Belta said. Their arrival is the next stage of a journey through Russian-held territory.

The evacuation began on Friday under a local ceasefire, as part of a joint relief operation, the first of its kind in four years and eight months of war. Residents were given a limited window on Friday to board a convoy of 25 buses and ambulances departing a town left without electricity, heat or running water. Oleshky's population has fallen from about 24,000 before the invasion to roughly 2,000, and aid convoys entered on Friday after weeks of efforts to organise relief.

The final leg into Ukraine

From Gomel, the Ukraine-bound evacuees are due to travel by bus into Ukraine's Chernihiv region at a crossing commonly used for prisoner exchanges, Al Jazeera's Kyiv reporting said. The Anapa flights were provided by the Russian Defence Ministry, and Ukraine's human rights commissioner Dmytro Lubinets, who travelled to Oleshky with his Russian counterpart, was due to escort the returnees across the border on Saturday.

The exact number of people leaving remains unclear. Ukraine's prime minister earlier said 527 residents would return to Ukrainian-held territory, while the convoy was prepared for up to 750 people. The local ceasefire is due to expire late on 1 November, and residents who stayed in Oleshky are to receive food, medicine and generator fuel.