Humanitarian crisis deepens in Russian-occupied Oleshky as food deliveries halt and evacuation becomes nearly impossible
A severe humanitarian crisis has engulfed the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky, where food deliveries have stopped and the hospital is barely functioning, while residents cannot safely leave due to mines and drones. Even the Kremlin now calls the situation critical.
The city of Oleshky, on the left bank of the Dnipro River across from Ukrainian-held Kherson, has fallen into severe crisis. Occupied by Russia since 2022, Oleshky is separated from Kherson by just nine kilometers, though the bridge connecting them is now closed.
Ukrainian officials described the situation as critical as early as spring, and by September the Kremlin agreed. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on September 21 that conditions in the city were critical, blaming Kyiv for obstructing deliveries of food and medicine.
A United Nations mission reported over the summer that Oleshky's last remaining store closed in January and all food deliveries stopped by late May. Medical care is now available only in the most urgent cases, ambulances no longer respond to calls, and anyone entering or leaving the city risks drone strikes or mines.
With no electricity or gas, residents have switched to wood-burning stoves. Vegetable gardens sustained people through summer, but no one knows what winter will bring — some residents are reportedly already eating weeds such as purslane and lamb's quarters, and there are reports of people eating dogs. Russian troops, themselves short of food, have reportedly been taking supplies from civilians, prompting some residents to post signs on their fences saying they have no food.
The local hospital, once the city's last refuge, has nearly stopped functioning due to a lack of medicine, equipment and fuel for its generator. Burials have become impossible because Russian forces block them and the morgue has been destroyed; roughly 100 bodies have piled up in the hospital's basement.
About 1,500 people, including 40 children, remain in Oleshky, with another 4,000 in nearby villages — down from a combined pre-war population of 40,000. Residents stay behind for lack of documents, age, fear of conscription into the Russian army, or simply nowhere to go, while no organized evacuation exists. Ukrainian officials say Russia is deliberately preventing civilians from leaving because their presence deters Ukrainian strikes.
