In Oleshky Near Kherson, Residents Eat Grass and Hide Bodies in a Hospital Basement While Awaiting an Evacuation That Never Comes
Residents of Russian-occupied Oleshky, just nine kilometers from Kherson, are living through the hardest period in the city's modern history, facing severe food shortages and almost no hope of rescue.
The city of Oleshky, located just nine kilometers from Kherson and currently under Russian occupation, is going through the hardest period in its modern history. Local residents are trapped in a dead-end situation, with no safe way to leave the city, acute food shortages, and almost no hope of being rescued.
Accounts of the situation come from messages sent to Ukrainska Pravda by residents themselves, their relatives, and volunteers who are following developments from a distance. These accounts reveal the scale of the catastrophe unfolding in Oleshky.
Extreme conditions for survival
According to the information received, acute food shortages have forced residents to search for anything edible, including grass, to survive. The situation in the city has become so dire that the bodies of the deceased cannot be properly buried — they are instead being kept in a hospital basement, since there is no safe way to carry out burials.
An evacuation that isn't happening
Residents hoping to be evacuated from the occupied territory are confronted with a reality in which the promised or expected evacuation simply is not taking place. People remain in a state of waiting, uncertain whether or when they will ever have the chance to leave the city safely.
The situation in Oleshky reflects a broader problem faced by residents of Russian-occupied areas of the Kherson region — limited access to food, medical care, and safe routes out of areas affected by fighting. Information from local residents, their relatives, and volunteers currently serves as one of the few sources revealing the true state of affairs in the city, since independent journalists have no access to the occupied territory.
