A critical humanitarian situation has developed in the temporarily occupied Oleshky in Kherson Oblast. Ukraine’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Andriy Sybyha said that residents are finding it increasingly difficult to obtain food, clean water, medicine, electricity, and medical assistance.
According to available reports, some civilians are collecting grass and weeds to survive. The head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine wrote:
People in the temporarily occupied Oleshky are starving. There is almost nothing left to eat. According to available reports, the civilian population is forced to survive by eating grass and weeds, while medicine, clean water, electricity, and medical care are becoming increasingly inaccessible. Children have also ended up in these conditions.
The situation in the city continues to deteriorate due to a lack of essential supplies and the inability to leave safely. The Ukrainian side previously reported that in Oleshky about 2,000 people remain, including children.
Andriy Sybyha called on the international community to use available mechanisms so that humanitarian organizations can deliver aid and organize the safe evacuation of residents who want to leave the city.
Separately, the minister appealed to the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and other humanitarian organizations to secure immediate and unimpeded access to the civilian population.
People there cannot survive on statements of concern alone. Humanitarian access and safe evacuation must become a reality because every day matters.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine has also previously emphasized the need for international pressure to create conditions under which humanitarian organizations can deliver food and medicines to occupied areas of Kherson Oblast and assist civilians with evacuation.
Earlier, two men were killed in Oleshky while attempting to deliver food to their relatives.
We previously wrote:
- More than three months without food deliveries: residents of occupied Oleshky survive on stockpiles
- Occupied Oleshky: evacuation lists compiled and decision being made on opening a route
- People trapped without water, food, and medicine: MFA sounds the alarm over the humanitarian situation in occupied Kherson region
- Oleshky — a ghost town of the Russian occupation: water shortages and deadly roads
