“The Humanitarian Situation Is Hell”: Oleshky Civilians Go Four Months Without Food or Medicine

Civilians in the temporarily Russian-occupied town of Oleshky have been cut off from food, water, and medicine for four months under what Ukrainian representatives describe as a total mine-and-drone blockade.

The account was reported by Deutsche Welle on September 18, drawing on statements from a Ukrainian humanitarian volunteer, a marine, and Ukraine's parliamentary human rights commissioner.

"The humanitarian situation is hell," Iryna-Ester Vratarova, a volunteer with the Humanity project, stated.

Vratarova explained that for four months, no food or medicine had reached Oleshky, that transport had stopped entirely, and that the banking system and access to cash had collapsed.

Pavlo Drohal, of the 30th Marine Corps of the Ukrainian Navy, pointed to acute shortages of the most basic supplies. "There is a huge deficit in food products and in drinking water," he noted.

According to Drohal, Russian occupation troops were blocking humanitarian deliveries into the town and preventing residents from leaving freely.

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War in Ukraine

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Oleshky lies on the Russian-controlled left bank of the Dnipro River, across the water from the Ukrainian-held regional capital of Kherson. The town has spent much of the full-scale war under Russian occupation, and its residents now depend on supply routes that Ukrainian sources describe as completely severed.

Dmytro Liubinets, Ukraine's Commissioner for Human Rights, warned that conditions were continuing to deteriorate and pressed for an emergency evacuation.

"We urgently demand that an evacuation be carried out to provide basic necessities such as food, water and medicine," he declared.

The blockade adds to a broader pattern of civilian hardship across Russian-held parts of the Kherson region.

In early August, Russian drone crews were reportedly ordered to hunt civilian vehicles across the region, with additional FPV operators deployed to target cars and buses near markets, supermarkets, and gas stations.

A separate Russian drone strike on a Ukrainian Red Cross warehouse in Kherson destroyed or damaged humanitarian supplies worth roughly $626,000.

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