“The mystery of encounter”: Caritas Ukraine meets hundreds of evacuees from occupied Oleshky

In late October, hundreds of people were brought out of occupied Oleshky in the Kherson region during a limited ceasefire.

It was the first organized evacuation from the town. The evacuees had lived through years of occupation and months of near-total isolation, hunger and fear. Teams from Caritas Ukraine, Caritas Kyiv and Caritas Chernihiv, together with government representatives and other NGOs, met them on arrival with hot drinks, practical help and open arms.

Caritas Ukraine President Tetiana Stawnychy was among those waiting at the meeting point.

“It was a day filled with very deep emotions — the kind that catch you unaware and simply roll over you.“

At the Caritas tent, the teams had coffee, hot tea, snacks and Wi-Fi ready for the arrivals and for those waiting. Caritas Kyiv arranged a small bus to bring relatives of some of the evacuees, so they could greet their loved ones the moment they stepped off.

“One of the buses stopped near our tent. A man was waiting there; he had spotted his sister through the window and went straight to the door. As soon as it opened, she seemed to spill out of the bus and simply melted into his embrace. That scene repeated itself again and again, as families found one another.“

Many of the evacuees were elderly, and many had mobility issues. They were exhausted from the journey and from everything they had lived through, yet there was also a kind of elation among them.

Caritas staff handed out Ukrainian SIM cards to evacuees who did not have them. Stawnychy helped one man fit a card into his old Nokia phone, and they began to talk. When she asked what life in Oleshky had been like, the first thing he spoke about was the 2023 flood after the destruction of the Kakhovka dam, when he helped pull people from the water. Only later did he speak about his neighbor who had been killed, his destroyed house, the drones and the mines.

“That struck me deeply. I thought about how many traumas these people carry, one on top of another.“

He kept repeating that Oleshky had been a lovely little town, and that now nothing was left.

“In his words I heard how much he loved the place he came from, and how much he had lost.“

A truck carrying animals rescued from occupied Oleshky arrived as well, from kittens to large dogs, each in its own crate.

“For me, at least, it was overwhelming: the vulnerability of these animals, and the fact that their owners had refused to leave them behind.“

Throughout the day, people kept embracing one another.

“In Caritas we speak of the spirituality of encounter — or rather, as I like to call it, the mystery of encounter. There is a beauty that comes when we truly see one another — when we look at one another with the gaze of brotherly love. It is profound. And then there was their joy: they were finally back on free Ukrainian soil, where they could speak Ukrainian. All of it spilled out of people in so many different ways.”

As the Caritas team drove away, they saw that people from the villages along the road had come out with flags and signs to greet the evacuees.

“They had never met before, and most of them will never meet again. Yet there was this solidarity, this warmth, kindness and love. It was a very Ukrainian experience.”

Tetiana Stawnychy thanked the teams of Caritas Ukraine, Caritas Kyiv and Caritas Chernihiv, who worked side by side that day: “They carry our love into the hands of the people who need it, with attention and care. They do it with their whole hearts.“

“Our care does not end at the meeting point.”

Caritas has already provided bedding and hot meals for evacuees receiving treatment in a hospital in Kyiv. Case managers and psychologists are ready to work with those who need more support.

Caritas president hopes this will be the first mission of many. It showed that such an operation is possible, even under a limited ceasefire in a single region.

“One of the women told us, ‘We came from hell.’ That we were able to bring them out gives me great hope. It shows that the fire can be stopped; there simply has to be the will to stop it. And on the Ukrainian side, I believe, that will is there.”

“For me, the evacuation from Oleshky was one candle lit. But it is the first one, and my hope is that many more will follow. This is more than a sense of community: we are simply together.”

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