About 2,000 people remain in Oleshky, including about 50 children, as constant Russian drone attacks and artillery shelling block food deliveries and road evacuations. Dmytro Lubinets, Ukraine's human rights ombudsman, said on Sept. 16 that residents need to be saved and described their situation as "from this hell".
One Oleshky resident said, "People are driven to despair and are simply walking along mined roads," after deliveries by road stopped and civilians lost a safe way out. The resident's account matches the wider pattern in the occupied city: the last successful food delivery took place on May 26, and supplies such as meat, flour, oil, butter and ready-made bread are no longer available.
Dnipro River in Kherson Oblast
Oleshky sits in Kherson Oblast on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River in Kherson Oblast, an area where Russian troops continue to use towns and villages to launch attacks across the river. Ukraine liberated Kherson in November 2022, but Oleshky remained under Russian occupation, and civilians there have lived through months of worsening shortages as aid and evacuation efforts faltered.
Several months ago, volunteers could still evacuate civilians from Oleshky this spring despite the risks. Tetiana Hasanenko, the exiled head of the Ukrainian Oleshky City Military Administration, said, "Russia remains silent," after Ukraine prepared a humanitarian evacuation mission, approved a list of civilians who needed to leave and remained in contact with the International Committee of the Red Cross and other international organizations.
International Committee of the Red Cross
The International Committee of the Red Cross had expressed readiness to participate, and Ukrainian forces had been preparing to ensure a ceasefire during the evacuation mission. Russia has not confirmed readiness to proceed, leaving the planned road evacuation blocked while Ukrainian authorities continue pressing for access. Russian drones also attacked vehicles carrying supplies into Oleshky on June 2, deepening the shortage that residents were already facing after bread deliveries stopped and eggs became scarce by New Year's.
For the residents still inside Oleshky, the immediate question is whether a convoy can move at all under fire and under a ceasefire arrangement that Russia has not yet accepted. Until that happens, food, medicine and evacuation remain tied to the same dangerous roads residents have already started using on foot.
