Deal on Paper, Death in Practice: 6,000 Oleshky Civilians Starving as Evacuation Goes Nowhere

Olena survived four years of occupation by cooking noodles and potatoes she found in abandoned basements. When she finally escaped Oleshky in April 2026, she had lost 10 kilograms. Her husband had lost 14 [2].

The first thing she did after crossing into Ukrainian-controlled territory was touch the ground. According to the Oleshky Military Administration, up to 2,000 people remain trapped in the city — mostly pensioners, people with limited mobility, and nearly 50 children [1].

Before Russia‘s full-scale invasion in 2022, Oleshky had 24,000 residents. It was a popular vacation area on the Dnipro River, just 10 kilometers across from Kherson. Now it is a trap [1].

The city has no electricity, no running water, no gas. The roads out are mined, watched by drones, and littered with bodies gnawed by stray dogs [2]. The road that connects Oleshky to the outside world is now called the “road of death” [2].

The Blockade

Food deliveries to Oleshky stopped in mid-January 2026. From that point until late February, almost nothing got through [1].

A single truck arrived on May 4 carrying supplies — the first delivery in months. There have been no further deliveries since [1].

People here have gotten desperate. They hunt pheasants and ducks using fishing lines baited with corn kernels. Some survive on dog food [3].

One woman ground leftover macaroni in a meat grinder, added water and yeast, and baked it as bread [3]. At the market, a 2-hour line for sausage in early March was shattered by a drone attack that killed two people and wounded eleven [3].

Russian authorities have provided limited humanitarian aid — but only to residents with Russian passports. A typical package contains four packs of spaghetti, one kilogram of buckwheat, one bottle of sunflower oil, four cans of stew, and two cans of condensed milk [3].

“there was effectively a famine in Oleshky, because almost no food was available from mid-January until February”

No sugar, no salt, no flour [3]. Residents without Russian citizenship are denied aid regardless of age or condition [5].

The Road of Death

Several cars tried to reach Skadovsk, a nearby Russian-held town, on February 11 to buy food and collect pensions. A Russian drone hit the lead vehicle. Three people burned to death inside [3].

The road is mined, spiked, and constantly patrolled by drones. Bodies lie along the shoulders, torn apart by dogs. Burned-out cars mark the route [2].

Tetiana Hasanenko, head of the Oleshky City Military Administration, told DW that from March onward, “there was effectively a famine in Oleshky, because almost no food was available from mid-January until February” [1]. She described a city where people cook over open fires, fridges do not work, and the hospital has virtually no fuel for its generators — making even basic operations like amputations after mine explosions impossible.

A Weapon of War

Ukraine‘s Human Rights Commissioner Dmytro Lubinets has called the situation a “humanitarian catastrophe.” In a statement, he described “a catastrophic shortage of drinking water, no stable electricity and gas supplies and restricted medical care” and declared that this is “not merely a humanitarian crisis. It is deliberate terrorism by the Russian Federation against the civilian population” [5].

International law is unequivocal. The Fourth Geneva Convention obliges Russia, as the occupying power, to ensure food and medical supplies and safe passage for civilians [5]. The UN’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine found in May 2025 that Russian drone attacks on civilians in Kherson oblast constitute a deliberate state policy and crimes against humanity [5].

Kateryna Kaliuzhna of the East SOS foundation told Novynarnia that occupying forces are using hunger as a deliberate weapon of war [2]. “We are trying to make the international community understand that what is happening in Oleshky constitutes a deliberate and systematic violation of international humanitarian law,” she said [2].

The Abductions

Hunger is far from the only danger here. Men in Oleshky are regularly taken by Russian soldiers, often at night. Some disappear permanently [4].

One resident told UkraineWorld that armed, drunk soldiers demand documents, and those without Russian passports face summary execution [4]. In March 2026, a man was killed after he refused to let Russian soldiers into the basement where food was stored [4].

Local residents believe the occupiers need them as human shields while using Oleshky as a base to shell Kherson [5]. Katia, a resident reached by phone whose name has been changed for security reasons, said her husband disappeared in February 2025 [2].

She speaks from the roof of her home, where she can catch a weak Ukrainian phone signal. Since January, she said, the roads out of Oleshky have become “roads of death.” She and others now search the basements of families who fled, just to find something to eat [2].

The Agreement That Hasn’t Happened

On May 15, 2026, Ukraine and Russia held negotiations regarding the evacuation of civilians from Oleshky and surrounding settlements. Dmytro Lubinets announced on May 22 that Ukraine had agreed with Russia on the technical terms for evacuating approximately 6,000 people — including about 200 children — from the Oleshky area [6].

A crossing over the Dnipro River is not possible from a military standpoint, so a land route was agreed upon. Civilians would be evacuated to a conditionally safe location, from where the Ukrainian side would take them to government-controlled territory [6].

The International Committee of the Red Cross announced at the end of April that it was ready to supply buses for the evacuation [1]. But weeks later, Ukraine is still waiting for Russia to confirm a ceasefire date that would allow the evacuation to begin.

Lubinets said every day people are dying: “People are sitting in basements, active combat is taking place there, including drone strikes and bombings. Food is nearly exhausted, and there is insufficient drinking water. In my view, this humanitarian catastrophe has been ongoing for several months” [6].

The Volunteer Evacuation

“We are trying to make the international community understand that what is happening in Oleshky constitutes a deliberate and systematic violation of international humanitarian law”

While the official corridor stalls, a volunteer network led by Ksenia Arkhipova, a 42-year-old former police officer, has been organizing evacuations through a Telegram channel. The route takes evacuees from Oleshky to Skadovsk under Russian control, then through Russia itself, across the Belarusian border, and finally to Ukrainian-controlled territory [1].

Each evacuation advances 100 meters at a time, checking for mines before clearing the vehicle to proceed. A vehicle evacuating civilians in January hit a mine, killing the driver and injuring two others [2]. Arkhipova’s work is supported financially by the Ukrainian aid organization Save Ukraine.

Only people with valid identity documents can use this route. Those whose belongings were burned in attacks cannot pass checkpoints [1].

Arkhipova advises them to obtain Russian passports — a humiliating step that requires three neighbors to verify identity [1]. The process takes weeks. Many families with children remain stuck in Skadovsk while waiting.

300 Dead Since Autumn

The full scale of the catastrophe is only now coming into focus. Local reports indicate that over 300 civilians have likely died in Oleshky from hunger, cold, and shelling since autumn 2025 [7].

Bodies cannot be properly buried — there are no coffins, and the hospital morgue has no electricity. People bury their dead in gardens or black plastic bags [3].

Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement on May 6 condemning the “severe humanitarian crisis” and urging the international community to take “immediate, concrete action to save our citizens in the occupied Kherson region” [2]. President Zelensky called on international organizations on May 13 to facilitate the evacuation [2].

But as June begins, the trapped residents of Oleshky keep waiting. They wait for food shipments that do not come [1].

They wait for a ceasefire date that Russia has not provided. They watch drones circle overhead, measuring their survival in kilograms lost and meals skipped.