Ukraine-Russia war latest: Planes carrying evacuated residents from Oleshky land in Belarus

Three planes carrying residents evacuated from the Russian-controlled Ukrainian town of Oleshky landed on Saturday at the Gomel airport in Belarus, reports said.The ⁠evacuees, wishing to leave ⁠for Ukraine, 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 state news agency said.Starving and exhausted residents were evacuated by bus as part of a ‌joint relief operation ​by the ‌opposing sides, the ⁠first of its ⁠kind in four years ‌and ​eight months ‌of war.Meanwhile, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed the sale of 500 Patriot PAC-3 missiles to Kyiv while warning that the deliveries could take years. He said the stockpiles were needed now to counter mounting Russian ballistic missile attacks as the war approaches yet another winter.The US State Department on Friday approved the sale of 500 Patriot missiles to Ukraine for an estimated £1.5 billion in one of the Trump administration’s most significant steps yet to supply defensive weapons to Kyiv.Russian drone strikes knock out electricity supplies to 280,000 Ukrainian familiesRussian drones struck Ukraine's energy facilities in overnight attacks, knocking out electricity supplies to about 280,000 Ukrainian families in the Kyiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions, president Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday. "These ⁠Russian strikes ‌have created a difficult situation with ‌electricity supplies across ‌our regions," Zelensky said on the ⁠Telegram app. "The world sees that Russia is deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure every day. Everyone who ‌does not want ​to see ‌this Russian ⁠escalation spread ⁠further into Europe must help ‌Ukraine."Rituparna Chatterjee31 October 2026 11:00Humanitarian convoy ready for OleshkyA humanitarian convoy for the stricken city of Oleshky has been set up in a nearby town. It includes 25 buses, ambulances and other vehicles for the aid mission, a Ukrainian official said. “We are bringing humanitarian aid to the local residents of the city of Oleshky,” Dmytro Lubinets, Ukraine's ombudsman and chief negotiator, said. “Our main task is to ensure that this aid reaches every person who needs it. We pay special attention to the elderly, people with disabilities.” Rituparna Chatterjee31 October 2026 10:30Zelensky berates Russia for continued attacksFighting continued elsewhere, however. Russia’s Defense Ministry said air defences downed more than 1,000 Ukrainian drones overnight, while Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched ballistic and other missiles, along with scores of drones.A Russian drone attack on a town in northeast Ukraine has left one woman dead and eight people injured, Ukraine’s emergency services said Friday. The strike occurred in the Sumy region in the town of Shostka, near Ukraine’s border with Russia. The agency said rescue efforts were hampered by repeated air raid alerts.In his nightly address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of stepping up attacks designed to make ordinary Ukrainians suffer during another winter. He did not mention the aid mission.“The Russians have not taken a single step toward de-escalation in the energy sector and continue terrorist strikes on our cities,” he said. “We will respond accordingly and justly.”Zelensky's office also announced sanctions on individuals and entities involved in developing Russia’s Rassvet satellite communications system, which Kyiv says Moscow is scaling up for military purposes.Rituparna Chatterjee31 October 2026 10:00Evacuated Oleshky residents begin long journey out of the war-ravaged regionEvacuees from Russian-occupied Oleshky began the long journey out of the war-ravaged region in bus convoys Friday, on the fourth day of the most significant truce since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine 4½ years ago.The estimated 2,000 remaining residents in the city of Oleshky were offered the choice of traveling to Ukrainian- or Russian-held territory, or remaining in the city with replenished food and medical supplies.(AFP/Getty)Officials in Kyiv said the evacuated residents bound for Ukraine were traveling to the city of Anapa in southern Russia from where they would fly to Belarus before crossing the border into northern Ukraine.The shortest route from Oleshky to Anapa is about 450 kilometers (280 miles) through Russian-held Crimea.Russia’s ombudswoman and lead representative on the mission, Yana Lantratova said buses also transported Oleshky residents who want to live in Russia.Russia and Ukraine have not specified how many people chose to leave the city, but US first lady Melania Trump, whom the White House said helped broker the localized truce, posted on social media Friday that the convoy could safely evacuate more than 750 people.After the convoys left Oleshky, Dmytro Lubinets, Ukraine’s ombudsman and chief negotiator, described the aid mission as “unique” and said he hoped the same model could be used to help other communities stranded by the war in Ukraine.Rituparna Chatterjee31 October 2026 09:30Russia’s last independent newspaper critical of Putin's war in Ukraine shut downRussia’s flagship independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta announced that it was closing.It said it had been “killed” by state pressure after years of repression targeting its journalists whose reporting was critical of the Kremlin and its Ukraine war, AFP reported.Novaya Gazeta was one of the last outlets to openly criticise Russia’s offensive.The paper’s Nobel Prize-winning founder Dmitry Muratov told AFP the closure was “part of a giant military campaign being waged by the Russian Federation”.Rituparna Chatterjee31 October 2026 09:16‘We all know you are the aggressor’ in Ukraine, Miliband tells Russian envoyConfronting Sergei Lavrov directly at the G20 summit in Atlanta, Georgia, the Foreign Secretary also said Moscow was “not winning this war” because of the “courage of the Ukrainian people” and the solidarity of its allies.Britain's Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband speaks with an attendee during the G20 foreign ministers' meeting in Atlanta, Georgia on 30 October 2026 (AFP/Getty)Rituparna Chatterjee31 October 2026 09:00Zelensky praises US over Patriot missile deal but warns against delaysUkrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has welcomed the US approval of the sale of 500 Patriot PAC-3 missiles to Kyiv while warning that the deliveries could take years.Zelensky has said that the stockpiles were needed now to counter mounting Russian ballistic missile attacks as the war approaches yet another winter. He urged the US and its partners to provide interceptors from existing stockpiles.The US state department yesterday said it had approved the sale of 500 Patriot PAC-3 missiles to Ukraine for ⁠an estimated $2.1bn.However, delayed missile deliveries have added to Ukraine's tensions with the US after president Donald Trump announced a diesel deal with Russia and criticised the Ukrainian president.Zelensky praised the “strong decision" but added: "It has been stipulated that deliveries may begin ONLY IN A FEW YEARS.""Right now, the Russians are attacking our energy infrastructure every single day."Alisha Rahaman Sarkar31 October 2026 08:30Three planes carrying residents evacuated from Oleshky arrive in BelarusThree planes carrying residents evacuated from the Russian-controlled Ukrainian town of Oleshky landed at Gomel airport in Belarus, the Belta state news agency reported on Saturday.The ⁠evacuees, wishing to leave ⁠for Ukraine, 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.Starving and exhausted residents were evacuated by bus on Friday as part of a ‌joint relief operation ​by the ‌opposing sides, the ⁠first of its ⁠kind in four years ‌and ​eight months ‌of war.Rituparna Chatterjee31 October 2026 08:29Russia lost 1,588,180 troops in Ukraine since beginning of invasionRussia has lost 1,588,180 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported.The number includes 1,670 casualties that Russian forces suffered over the past day, the Kyiv Independent reported. Ukraine did not reveal its own losses during the invasion.Rituparna Chatterjee31 October 2026 08:00Pentagon quietly muzzles NATO allies on Moscow threatLithuania, Latvia and Estonia are among the NATO governments the Pentagon has asked to soften their public language about the threat from Russia, according to four people familiar with the matter.The people, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the Pentagon delivered the messages in bilateral meetings.It was not clear whether other European governments received similar messages.More here.Alisha Rahaman Sarkar31 October 2026 07:33