Hunger in Oleshky: Ukraine asks for evacuation

The situation is critical in Oleshky, a city in southern Ukraine. When the nearby Kakhovka dam was destroyed in 2023 , Oleshky was first flooded and then bombed. Today, it is practically cut off from the outside world. But up to 2,000 people still live there, according to the Oleshky Military Administration, They are mostly pensioners and persons with limited mobility — but there are also almost 50 children reportedly.

Prior to Russia 's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Oleshky had 24,000 residents and was situated in a popular vacation area. Of the 13 localities in the district, five have been completely destroyed according to officials. But people continue to live in the surrounding area.

It has become almost impossible to leave Oleshky. The city itself and all access roads have been mined by the Russian army. Previously, the Antonivka Road Bridge over the Dnipro River connected Oleshky with the regional capital Kherson, which remains controlled by Ukraine. But the bridge no longer exists. It was blown up by the Russians in November 2022, after they retreated from the right bank of the river and deployed to the left bank.

"In Oleshky, people are dying because of landmines, direct strikes on their homes or shrapnel," Ksenia Archipova, a former resident of Oleshky, who is currently helping people to evacuate on a regular basis, told DW. "The hospital is powered by generators, but there's practically no fuel. Complex operations, such as amputations after mine explosions, are impossible," she said.

This was also confirmed by Natalia, who lived under Russian occupation for almost 18 months before leaving after the demolition of the Kakhovka dam. "People can barely survive, they don't have access to electricity or water. There are virtually no medicine supplies, there is a shortage of groceries, and if there is anything, everyone stands in long queues to buy something, though they have very little money. Roadsides are littered with landmines that can explode when cyclists or pedestrians pass by. This is how many people are dying," Natalia told DW.

She said that she still has relatives and acquaintances in the city with whom she stays in touch — due to its proximity to Kherson, Oleshky is within range of Ukraine's mobile phone network. She said that it was very dangerous for people in Oleshky to talk with her and others in non-occupied Ukraine, as Ukrainian SIM cards are banned in the Russian-occupied territories and all contact with Ukrainians. But people continued to take the risk, using solar panels from partially destroyed buildings to charge their old mobile phones.

Already isolated, the situation became even worse for people in Oleshky last winter. The number of landmines on roads reached such a level that many of those transporting food supplies from other occupied territories to the city stopped doing so for fear of their lives. This almost led to the total collapse of food provisions in February, Tetyana Hasanenko, the head of the Oleshky Military Administration in the Kherson Region, told DW.

"From March, there was effectively a famine in Oleshky, because almost no food was available from mid-January until February. On May 4, a truck carrying supplies arrived in Oleshky, but there were no more deliveries after that. People have no electricity, they have to cook with open fires, fridges are not working," Hasanenko added.