Between 1,500 and 2,000 civilians remain trapped in the Russian-occupied town of Oleshky in southern Ukraine, where widespread landmines, drone strikes and artillery fire have severed supply lines and brought the population to the brink of starvation, according to residents, officials and humanitarian workers.
Situated on the left bank of the Dnipro River across from the Ukrainian-held city of Kherson, Oleshky has endured continuous fighting since late 2022. Once home to more than 22,000 people, the town suffered catastrophic damage when the Kakhovka dam collapsed in 2023, flooding 90 percent of the area and wiping out essential infrastructure. In recent months, conditions have worsened into what officials on both sides describe as a critical humanitarian disaster.
Cut off by mines and drones
With utility grids destroyed, remaining residents have survived without municipal electricity, natural gas or running water. Getting water requires household wells powered by generators, but fuel deliveries ended late in the spring, Meduza reported. Ground transport into Oleshky has ceased entirely since June, when a delivery driver was killed by a landmine, according to The Moscow Times.
Surrounding roads and fields are heavily mined, while reconnaissance and attack drones constantly patrol the skies. Ukrainian officials say Russian troops mined escape routes and turned the town into a de facto siege, using trapped civilians as cover. Conversely, Russian occupation authorities and Kremlin officials claim Ukrainian shelling and drones have prevented repair crews from fixing infrastructure and blocked aid convoys.
Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the situation in Oleshky “critical” on Sept. 21, asserting that Russian forces were attempting to address the conditions while blaming Kyiv for hindering deliveries, Meduza reported. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha characterized the Russian military presence and blockade as an intentional siege.
Desperate search for sustenance
Left without commercial supplies, many residents have been forced to survive on garden produce and wild vegetation, including purslane, before autumn depleted those reserves. Some residents undertake perilous journeys on foot, traveling up to 14 miles to the Russian-controlled village of Radensk to purchase staple foods at inflated prices.
“To blow up on a mine or die of hunger? People from Oleshky are forced to choose between two deaths,” Ukrainian Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets said in a statement reported by The Moscow Times.
Ukraine’s military has attempted to supply residents using aerial drones. Sybiha said Ukrainian forces dropped nearly 400 aid packages containing approximately four metric tons of food and medicine on Oct. 4, following an earlier drop in late September. However, local contacts told The Moscow Times that many residents never received those supplies, and exiled local Ukrainian officials alleged that Russian troops seized some of the earlier packages.
Unknown death toll and stalled talks
Determining the human cost remains difficult due to disrupted telecommunications and tight military control. The United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine recorded at least 29 civilian deaths and 54 injuries in Oleshky and neighboring Hola Prystan through late June. Kseniia Arkhipova, an exiled police officer tracking casualties, told Meduza she had verified 136 deaths in Oleshky since the 2022 invasion began.
Ukraine’s human rights office said negotiations with Russia regarding a humanitarian corridor remain underway, with Kyiv proposing a localized cease-fire and safe passage into government-held territory. Until an agreement is reached, volunteers warned that civilian evacuations remain nearly impossible.
