People evacuated from the devastated Russian-occupied city of Oleshky have arrived in Belarus and are expected back in Ukraine later on Saturday, authorities have said.

Residents of the frontline city had been trapped without food, water and electricity, with many resorting to cooking garden weeds to survive.

The evacuees were taken out of Oleshky on Friday during a local ceasefire brokered by US First Lady Melania Trump.

Planes carrying the residents landed in the city of Gomel on Saturday morning, according to Belarusian state media and a senior Ukrainian official.

"The last, fourth plane landed in Gomel (Belarus). In a few hours, all Ukrainian citizens evacuated from Oleshky, together with the Ukrainian delegation, will be on Ukrainian territory," said David Arakhamia, a key Ukrainian official.

The state-owned Belarusian news agency Belta reported a bus convoy of Oleshky residents had left Gomel airport and was heading towards the Ukrainian border.

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.

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.