The humanitarian situation in the small Ukrainian town of Oleshky has long been tense - but now life on the Russian-occupied left bank of the Dnipro is turning into hell. The last overland food delivery came to the city on May 26, 2026. Since then, thousands of civilians in Oleschky have been left to fend for themselves. Russian invasion troops have cordoned off the place and surrounded it with minefields. Around 6,000 people are still said to be stuck in the city, including many children.
“There is no reliable supply of food, drinking water or medicine,” says Ukrainian human rights commissioner Dmytro Lubinets. Shops and pharmacies are closed and the hospital is working “with minimal resources”. The doctors can only stop the bleeding; there is no longer even electricity for operations.
Before the Russian invasion, Oleschky was a tranquil town with 38,000 residents. It is surrounded by forests and floodplains and lies on the lower reaches of the Dnipro directly opposite Kherson.
Since the liberation of the right bank of the Dnipro by Ukrainian armed forces in autumn 2022, Oleschky has been located directly at the front in the so-called gray zone. From the city the road leads through a riparian forest over the Antonovsky Bridge, which is now partially blown up, over the Dnipro to Kherson. Oleschky is therefore of strategic importance.
Oleschky can only be supplied by land from Russian-occupied territory. The city's catastrophic situation is now even a topic at the United Nations - but with no result. Human Rights Commissioner Lubinets says there is contact with Russia.
Together with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), a list of people who urgently need to be evacuated has been compiled. In return, Ukraine would agree to a local ceasefire. But: “The problem is that Russia has not confirmed its readiness to carry out the evacuation.” Russian soldiers would even prevent people from leaving the city.
In fact, escaping the city is currently impossible. The route west into Ukrainian-controlled territory would be via the largely destroyed Antonovsky Bridge or across the river – in any case across an active front line. The route to the east is blocked by minefields and the constant danger of drone attacks by Russian troops. According to the Ukrainian exile administration, one person has been killed and at least four others seriously injured in recent days while trying to escape off the roads.
In addition, after the Kakhovka Dam upstream was blown up by Russian troops, Oleschky was completely flooded. Many residents no longer have any documents and cannot identify themselves, which is dangerous under Russian occupation.
Lubinets: “Under international humanitarian law, in particular Articles 55 and 59 of the Fourth Geneva Convention on the Protection of Civilians in Time of War, the occupying power is obliged to provide the civilian population with food and medical supplies and to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian assistance.” Russia violates this principle. This puts Oleschky on a par with places like Butscha, Izjum and Mariupol, explains political scientist Yevhen Mahda.
Ukraine wanted to supply the enclosed city from the air. But drones meant to bring goods to Oleshky were shot down by Russian soldiers who stole food. Videos are circulating online showing Russian soldiers fleeing Ukrainian drones with stolen humanitarian goods.
For the starving people, supplying food from the air also becomes a danger: “The occupiers arrested residents of Oleshky because they had accepted humanitarian aid packages and threw them into the basement,” says the governor of the Kherson region, Oleksandr Prokudin. “Basement” refers to the network of torture prisons where people are held for years without charge.
According to rumors, the Russian army is using Oleshky as a base for drone pilots who hunt civilians in the city of Kherson. This inhumane action is also known as the “Human Safari”. That could be an explanation, because there is only food in Redensk, 20 kilometers away and also occupied by Russia. Political scientist Mahda says: “This shows that the Russian occupation has no military logic.”
