“As of now, Ukrainian citizens from Oleshky have crossed the Ukrainian border in the Chernihiv region,” Zelensky said in a post on X.
“All of them will receive the assistance they need. It is important that government agencies and all the regional and local authorities involved work effectively and help our people adapt.”
The evacuees were taken via Russia and Belarus before being driven across Ukraine’s northern border on Saturday.
The oldest evacuee was 94 years old, while the youngest was one, according to Dmytro Lubinets, Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman.
One evacuee, Liubov, told the Reuters news agency: “Until we got on the buses, we were afraid of everything, we were so worried and nervous. Before that, we spent nights without sleeping, wondering how it would go, what would happen. But everything went well.”
Another said they had lost 20 kg in the last year, adding: “My strength left me.”
A humanitarian ceasefire took effect across the frontline region of Kherson on Tuesday, providing the first few days of peace in the area in four years, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Conditions had become so desperate in Oleshky that not only was getting supplies into the city extremely difficult, but escape was highly dangerous because the routes out had been mined and subject to drone attack.
Bridges across the nearby River Dnipro have been destroyed and sources say the riverbank has been mined and is dangerous.
One resident who fled the city three weeks earlier told the BBC he had walked through 24km (15 miles) of minefields to get to safety.
