European Parliament Vice-President Begins Hunger Strike Over Situation in Russian-Occupied Oleshky
European Parliament Vice-President Pina Picierno has started a hunger strike to draw attention to the situation in Russian-occupied Oleshky in southern Ukraine. She is demanding a humanitarian ceasefire, deliveries of food and medicine, and safe evacuation for civilians.
Pina Picierno, a vice-president of the European Parliament, has begun a hunger strike to draw international attention to the situation in Oleshky. The city lies in the part of Ukraine's Kherson region occupied by Russia. She has called on humanitarian organisations and governments to take notice of her action.
"We must demand an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, deliveries of food and medicine, and the opportunity to safely evacuate civilians who wish to leave the city," Picierno said.
Conditions in the city
Oleshky is under constant shelling. People who have remained there have been forced to live for months without electricity and without adequate medical care. The city also lacks food and medicine. Roads leading to it are mined, which makes leaving practically impossible.
International efforts
A few days ago, Pope Leo XIV asked Russian President Vladimir Putin in a telephone call to allow humanitarian aid to reach the city and people to be evacuated. Soon afterwards, Dmytro Lubinets, the human rights commissioner of Ukraine's parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, and then Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov confirmed that Kyiv and Moscow are working on resolving the situation.
Picierno's hunger strike is an attempt to focus wider attention on the plight of civilians in a city where aid is not getting through. The source does not say how long she intends to continue the strike.
