Ukraine urges humanitarian corridors for thousands trapped in Russian-occupied Oleshky
More than 6,000 civilians, including around 200 children, may remain trapped in Russian-occupied Oleshky in southern Ukraine, where Ukrainian officials say food supplies have been cut off for months and residents are being prevented from leaving.
Ukraine has urged international action to evacuate thousands of civilians from Russian-occupied Oleshky in the Kherson region, warning that the city is facing a humanitarian catastrophe.
Speaking at a UN Security Council meeting, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said residents had been left without reliable access to food, water, electricity and heating.
“Russia is starving people while refusing to let them leave the occupied territories, using them as human shields,” Sybiha said.
He described the case of one Oleshky resident, Alya, who he said is surviving on bread.
“If you remember only one thing from this meeting, remember Oleshky,” Sybiha told the Security Council. “Hear their cry for help. Demand that Russia open humanitarian corridors.”
More than 6,000 people, including around 200 children, may remain in Oleshky and the surrounding area near the front line, according to Ukrainian officials.
Food supplies were last delivered to the area in late May, Ukrainian authorities say.
Ukraine’s human rights commissioner, Dmytro Lubinets, said on Sept. 16 that Russia had for an extended period failed to confirm its readiness for a humanitarian mission to evacuate civilians from Oleshky.
The All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations has also appealed to Pope Leo XIV to use his influence to help secure the evacuation of residents facing hunger.
Oleshky, located on the Russian-occupied left bank of the Dnipro River in the Kherson region, has been under Russian control since the early weeks of the full-scale invasion.