Sky News films Russians bringing armour and infantry into Oleshky under cover of ceasefire – video

British television news channel Sky News has shown video footage of the Russians using the ceasefire to bring heavy armour and ammunition into the town of Oleshky, fortify their positions and conduct a rotation of their armed forces.

Source: Sky News

Quote from Sky News: "Sky News was given exclusive access to the headquarters control centre of the Ukrainian Marines 34th Brigade as they monitored Russian movements before and after the evacuation and during the ceasefire here."

Details: Sky News emphasises that despite residents of the occupied town being evacuated to unoccupied Ukraine, suspicions remain regarding the Kremlin's motives and concerns persist about those who have stayed behind.

Quote from Sky News: "Even before the evacuation process began, under the cover of the ceasefire, Russian soldiers began to position heavy military equipment and supplies. Armoured vehicles can be seen clearly on the streets. The Ukrainians say none of this is linked to a humanitarian mission."

Details: The drone footage also showed Russian soldiers carrying large rucksacks into houses and buildings with basements. The Russians moved through the town and disappeared inside damaged and burnt-out buildings.

Dmytro Pulinets, commander of the 34th Separate Marine Brigade, said that previously Russian soldiers would not even have dreamed of driving through the town like that – "day or night, in bad weather or any other conditions".

Quote from Pulinets: "Now they have the opportunity to do so. This has been happening constantly over the past few days, they're moving along it day and night."

Details: Sky News also filmed the removal of bodies from a hospital morgue.

Quote from Sky News: "The bodies are placed in double body bags and put into a truck. All those white bags you can see are bodies. This is important because the residents tell us all of these dead were killed in violent circumstances, not natural causes. The Russians are removing them [the bodies]. There will be no investigation or inquiry into what happened to them."

Details: Sky correspondent Stuart Ramsay also reported that the Russians had not allowed the residents of Oleshky to bury the dead.

Another drone video showed Russian soldiers carrying white boxes and sacks full of rations (aid delivered to the residents of Oleshky) and taking them away for their own use.

Quote from Sky News: "This was not part of the humanitarian mission."

Details: Pulinets added that his unit observed that during the ceasefire, the Russians restored all their artillery systems, reclaimed previously lost positions, conducted personnel rotations, brought in fresh reinforcements and equipment and built up their aerial reconnaissance capabilities and fuel supplies.

Quote from Pulinets: "I have mixed feelings, let's put it that way.. On the one hand, this is a genuinely important humanitarian operation, it's absolutely vital to evacuate the civilians from the town of Oleshky, in fact, I think it should have been done sooner… On the other hand, this is going to create a great deal of work for us once the ceasefire ends. Once all these humanitarian convoys have finished and everyone has left, it'll be back to the daily routine of military operations for the brigade."

Background:

• Ukraine's General Staff said Russian forces used the ceasefire in the area of the temporarily occupied city of Oleshky in Kherson Oblast to rotate their units, reinforce their positions, strengthen anti-drone protection along roads and boost their logistics capacity.
• The ceasefire in the Oleshky area lasted from 03:00 on 27 October until 22:59 on 1 November. This was implemented to facilitate a humanitarian mission in the town.
• Under an agreement reached by the Russian and Ukrainian sides, the evacuation route for residents of Oleshky passed through Russia and Belarus before reaching Ukraine. Ukraine's Human Rights Commissioner Dmytro Lubinets' office explained why the evacuation took place via this specific route.
• On 31 October, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that a humanitarian operation in Russian-occupied Oleshky, Kherson Oblast, had been successfully completed. All evacuated Ukrainian citizens had crossed the border into Ukraine in Chernihiv Oblast.
• On the evening of 1 November, Lubinets announced the end of the ceasefire. He said that both sides had fulfilled their obligations throughout this period.

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