Residents of occupied Oleshky face hunger as food supplies run out

September 18, 2026 at 10:22 PM3 min

This digest was compiled by AI from multiple sources — links to the originals are below.

Residents of Russian-occupied Oleshky in Ukraine's Kherson region are facing severe food shortages, with the last food delivery to the city reported in late May. Local official Tetiana Hasanenko said the situation is critical and should be called famine, not just malnutrition. Ukraine is negotiating with Russia to evacuate about 6,000 people from the community, but Russia has not yet confirmed participation.

Key Facts

The last food delivery to Oleshky was at the end of May, according to Tetiana Hasanenko, head of the Oleshky city military administration.
About 6,000 people, including 180 children, remain in the Oleshky community, which comprises 13 settlements.
Ukraine has been negotiating with Russia since spring 2026 to evacuate residents, but Russia has not confirmed participation in the humanitarian operation, said Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets.
A resident named Halyna said she has not eaten meat since New Year and now survives on flatbread made from water and flour.
Oleshky was almost completely flooded in June 2023 after the destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant.

Food Crisis

Residents of Oleshky are surviving on meager rations, with one man sending a photo of a soup he called 'Oleshky borscht' made from the last vegetables: five potatoes, beets, a tomato, an onion, a zucchini, and asparagus. He added barley and two eggs to make it more filling, noting that his mother had exchanged 2.5 kilograms of sugar for 10 eggs. Tetiana Hasanenko, head of the Oleshky city military administration, said she receives such messages daily and that people want hope, but 'there is no hope.' She stated that the situation began to worsen in December 2025 when snow covered mines on the roads, leading to constant explosions and fears of food shortages. Residents initially dug out flooded basements to retrieve preserved food, but now 'they have eaten everything they could,' Hasanenko said.

Living Conditions

Halyna, a resident whose name was changed for safety, said in an interview that she had not eaten yet by midday and expected only a flatbread made of water and flour, spread with apple jam and tea without sugar. She said she last ate meat 'probably on New Year' and now lives in an abandoned private house after her apartment was destroyed by shelling. The city has long been without electricity and gas, and water comes only from a well, she said. Halyna added that residents only go outside from 7 to 9 a.m., and that rain had made the floor of her house wet with temperatures at 14 degrees Celsius.

Evacuation Negotiations

Ukraine has been negotiating with Russia since spring 2026 to evacuate residents of the Oleshky community, according to Dmytro Lubinets, the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights. Russia has not yet confirmed its participation in the humanitarian operation, Lubinets said. Oleshky is located on the left bank of the Dnieper River in Kherson region and has been occupied since the first days of Russia's full-scale invasion. In June 2023, the city was almost completely flooded after the destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant.