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IrelandOleshky evacuees embrace relatives after humanitarian truce allows escape
USA TODAY's footage shows exhausted civilians reaching Ukrainian-held territory, with relatives waiting beside the buses.
USA TODAY
Story of Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 766,627 views a day, 88 times a normal first day on this channel (8,682).
Starved residents of Russian-occupied Oleshky return to Ukraine
Relatives wrapped in Ukrainian flags weep as evacuees step off a bus. One man reaches the waiting group and is immediately drawn into an embrace.
USA TODAY's report captures reunions in Ukraine's Chernihiv region after civilians left Russian-occupied Oleshky on October 31. The broadcaster describes those arriving as starved and exhausted, their evacuation made possible by a local humanitarian truce.
Oleshky is itself Ukrainian territory, a city in the southern Kherson region on the left bank of the Dnieper River. The journey shown is from Russian occupation to Ukrainian-held territory, not a return from another country.
According to USA TODAY's accompanying coverage, a six-day ceasefire followed mediation efforts by U.S. first lady Melania Trump, with the pope also involved. The report describes it as the longest local pause in fighting since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022.
The Short drew roughly 345,000 views in seven hours, far beyond the channel's usual first-day audience for Shorts. A separate, longer report on the same reunions also drew more views than its usual start.
The footage ends with Dmytro and Larysa embracing beneath a Ukrainian flag. Larysa explains that they had not wanted to leave until the last moment, but their hopes of staying had not worked out.
A city in southern Ukraine’s Kherson region, on the left bank of the Dnieper River.
More on Wikipedia ›A province in northern Ukraine, with the city of Chernihiv as its administrative centre.
More on Wikipedia ›Published on Trari
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- Channel
- USA TODAY
- Subscribers
- 7,600,000 ▲ 10,000 this week
- Channel views, last 7 days
- 9,112,088
- Channel views, pace per day
- 498,938 (on a normal day: 1,534,173)
- Video published
- October 31, 2026
- Video views so far
- 344,750 (less than a day online)
- Video views, pace per day
- 766,627
The numbers
The reunion footage drew an unusually large early audience for a USA TODAY Short. The longer report on the evacuation also had a stronger-than-usual start.
