9 kilometers to Kherson, 20 to food: how the Russian occupation turned the Ukrainian Oleshky into a city on the brink of starvation

In the Russian-occupied Oleshky of the Kherson region, people are making soup from wild greens, trying to walk twenty kilometers on mined roads for food, and the hospital is asking residents to bring at least some grains for bedridden patients. The last successful food delivery took place on May 26, 2026. Since then, normal supply has not been restored.

Author: Alexander Khmelnitsky

On September 25, 2026, the American TV channel ABC News published a major report on the humanitarian catastrophe in the city. On the same day, new testimonies from residents, volunteers, and representatives of the Ukrainian administration appeared. The Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights, Michael O'Flaherty, demanded the safe evacuation of civilians and the unhindered delivery of humanitarian aid.

In Oleshky itself, according to the Ukrainian city military administration, about two thousand people remain. Together with the surrounding villages — about six thousand, including 182 children. The exact number cannot be established: communication is almost nonexistent, people disappear from the sight of relatives, some manage to get through minefields on their own.

All this is happening…

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