Council of Churches asks Pope to save occupied Oleshky from starvation
Ukraine's All-Ukrainian Council of Churches has appealed to Pope Leo XIV and other international bodies over a humanitarian catastrophe in Russian-occupied Oleshky in Kherson region, where over 6,000 people, including about 200 children, may still be trapped without adequate food, water or medicine.
The All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations has reported a critical humanitarian situation in Russian-occupied Oleshky in the Kherson region. According to various estimates, more than 6,000 residents, including around 200 children, may still remain in the city.
The organization says the last food deliveries reached Oleshky at the end of May 2026. Residents lack sufficient food, drinking water, medicine and other necessary aid. The council states that Russian forces are preventing people from leaving the city.
Oleshky lies close to the front line, so the civilians remaining there face constant threats from shelling and drone attacks. The city's critical infrastructure has been effectively destroyed, with no electricity or gas supply. The council recalled that in 2023 Oleshky also suffered major flooding after Russian forces blew up the dam of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant.
In its statement, the council said the city of Oleshky, located in temporarily occupied Ukrainian territory, is under humanitarian blockade and on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe. The organization appealed to Pope Leo XIV, the World Council of Churches, the World Evangelical Alliance, other religious leaders and human rights organizations to use every possible means to prevent people from starving to death.
The council also called on UN member states and the International Committee of the Red Cross to support a humanitarian mission and the evacuation of Oleshky residents to Ukrainian-controlled territory. The organization emphasized that the Ukrainian side has repeatedly raised the critical situation in the city with international organizations and has tried to negotiate an evacuation of people.
Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets, previously said Russia has long failed to confirm readiness to organize a humanitarian mission to evacuate civilians from Oleshky. Separately, the 34th Separate Marine Brigade published video footage of the occupied city, which it said Russian forces have turned into a ghost town.
