'We'll Die This Autumn': Ruined And Flooded, Russian-Occupied Oleshky In Ukraine Starves Under A 'Total Blockade'
Residents say no humanitarian aid has arrived since May 26, as Russian forces block deliveries and attack food convoys, leaving thousands without basic supplies.
- Since May 26, 2026, Russian occupation forces have imposed a total blockade on Oleshky in Kherson Oblast, preventing all humanitarian aid from reaching at least 2,000 trapped civilians.
- Russia's deliberate destruction of the Kakhovka Dam in June 2023 cut off water, power, and gas; occupation strategies now systematically deny residents access to food and medical services.
- Residents are hanging signs reading "no food, we're starving too," while a three-liter jar of bread crusts has become, in the words of one resident, worth its "weight in gold."
- Serving as a garrison to coordinate drone attacks across the Dnipro River, Oleshky is the base for what journalist Zarina Zabrisky documented as a "human safari," while Russia refuses to cooperate with the ICRC.
- Under the Fourth Geneva Convention and Rome Statute, Russia's intentional starvation of civilians constitutes a war crime; occupying powers have a positive duty to ensure food and medical supplies to trapped populations.
22 Articles
22 Articles
After more than four years of war, few events reach through the noise, but reports of the starving civilian population in Oleshky are now bringing the world's eyes back to Ukraine. "Images that truly show the consequences of war bring the misery closer," says Marie Grusell, an expert in strategic communications.
Evacuation has been blocked and mined by residents of the temporarily occupied Olešek region of Kherson province, who are forced to leave the city on foot or on their own transport because of lack of food, water and medicines, at risk of being destroyed by mines. Dmitri Lubinski, Commissioner of the Verkhovna Rada for Human Rights, reported by RBK-Ukraine with reference to his Telegram Canal. According to the Ombudsman, dozens of people have to …
'We'll Die This Autumn': Ruined And Flooded, Russian-Occupied Oleshky In Ukraine Starves Under A 'Total Blockade'
People in Russian-held Oleshky in Ukraine's Kherson region have endured war, occupation, and devastating flooding. Now, trapped by land mines and cut off from basic supplies, they face "hell," starving in a virtual ghost town, Ukrainian officials and volunteers say.
There are reports of mass starvation in the occupied town of Oleshky in southern Ukraine. The town is said to be completely isolated from the outside world – but SVT has reached out to several witnesses. – They were lucky the other day and found a mulberry bush with some berries on it, writes a woman whose family remains in the town.
Westfalenpost
The Russian occupied city is facing a humanitarian disaster because of a blockade, mines and hunger.
The Russian occupied city is facing a humanitarian disaster because of a blockade, mines and hunger.
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