About 2,000 people in Oleshky, Kherson region, have been surviving without access to food, drinking water, or medicine, and under tight Russian occupation. Russia occupied the city over four years ago — in the first days of its full-scale invasion — slowly isolating the city. In April 2026, the situation took a turn for the worse. Residents are running out of food and medicine, and Russia is blocking their escape to Ukrainian-controlled territory.
Since May, Ukraine's Foreign Ministry has been pushing for talks to arrange an urgent civilian evacuation. In early October, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) reviewed the humanitarian crisis in Oleshky. Ukrainians who want to help have also been raising awareness wherever they can, from social media to sports matches abroad. But 2,000 people are still trapped.
What leverage does Ukraine have over Russia? Has anything like this happened before during the Russian-Ukrainian war, and what worked in those cases? Rubryka spoke with Oleksandr Pavlichenko, executive director of the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union, to find out.
What's the problem?
What's happening in Oleshky?
Before Russia's full-scale invasion, Oleshky, a town on the left bank of the Dnipro River in the Kherson region, was home to 24,000 people. Four years of Russian occupation have reduced it to a ghost town of only about 2,000. Its infrastructure lies in ruins, and food and medicine are scarce. Electricity and gas have been cut off for a long time.
The last major food delivery reached Oleshky in May 2026. Since then, Russian fire has blocked every supply vehicle from entering the town.
Ukrainian forces are now trying to deliver food and medicine using drones. Russian troops are obstructing these attempts and taking food packages away from surviving locals.
Russian forces use Oleshky as a staging ground for attacks on the Ukrainian-controlled right bank of the Dnipro River, including the city of Kherson. The two cities are less than 10 kilometers apart in a straight line.
People of Oleshky cannot leave because the roads are mined. As Dmytro Lubinets, Ukraine's parliamentary human rights commissioner, has pointed out, residents must choose between starving and risking death from a land mine.
Oleksandr Pavlichenko, executive director of the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union. Photo credit: Tribunal for Putin initiative
"Oleshky is right on the front line, and residents have become hostages of Russian forces. The Russians won't let them leave or allow them to be evacuated. They're using civilians as human shields," Pavlichenko says.
What does international law say about the Oleshky crisis?
Legally, the humanitarian crisis in Oleshky and the use of civilians as human shields violate the Fourth Geneva Convention, which protects civilians during wartime. It may also constitute a war crime under Article 8 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Pavlichenko compares the situation in Oleshky with the ICC's case against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. On November 21, 2024, the ICC issued arrest warrants for both Israeli leaders. The court said there were reasonable grounds to believe they bore criminal responsibility for, among other things, the war crime of using starvation as a method of warfare. The case involved cutting off Gaza's civilians from food, water, medicine, fuel, and electricity they needed to survive.
"This is what's known as 'starvation as a method of warfare.' It means creating brutal conditions that make civilians suffer. There's no electricity in Oleshky either, and people have no access to food, medicine, or medical care. On top of that, they're completely forbidden from leaving. The city is effectively being turned into a ghetto," Pavlichenko explains.
How unusual is the situation in Oleshky?
Russia has caused similar humanitarian crises in other towns in the Kherson region: Hola Prystan, Stara Zburivka, and Nova Zburivka. These villages are near Oleshky.
A look at the Russian-Ukrainian war since 2014 shows that Oleshky and the surrounding communities are far from the only places to have faced these conditions.
- During the battles for Debaltseve and Vuhlehirsk, Donetsk region, in 2014–2015, Russian forces destroyed urban infrastructure and cut off supplies of water, food, and medicine.
- In Russian-occupied parts of the Donetsk region, Russian-backed fighters have seized Ukrainian humanitarian aid and looted surviving stores since 2014.
- Russian forces have repeatedly broken ceasefire agreements and blocked humanitarian corridors. This happened in Ilovaisk in 2014, Debaltseve in 2015, and Mariupol, Irpin, Bucha, and Chernihiv in 2022.
Pavlichenko says the situation in Oleshky also resembles what happened in the village of Yahidne in the Chernihiv region in 2022. Russian troops forced more than 300 residents into the basement of a local school and held them there without enough water, food, or fresh air. They tortured and shot people. Some died because of the inhumane conditions in the basement.
The expert also points to the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, a Boeing 777, near Donetsk in the summer of 2014. It was one of the first cases in which Russia denied international experts access to territory that legally belongs to Ukraine.
About 2,000 people remain in the Russian-occupied town of Oleshky. Photo source: Intent
"Russia plays by its own rules, and we have to take that into account. When Ukraine conducts military operations and launches attacks, for example, a massive bombardment of Oleshky is clearly out of the question because about 2,000 people are still there," Pavlichenko says. "That's exactly why the Russians are keeping them there: to stop them from leaving. They're human shields for the large number of Russian troops stationed in Oleshky. The troops are hiding behind the civilian population. That's the whole point."
How can Ukraine negotiate with Russia to evacuate civilians from Oleshky?
Pavlichenko says the crisis in Oleshky can only be resolved through talks with Russia. But Russia doesn't care how international law defines its actions.
The situation is even harder because Russia ignores the actions and appeals of the United Nations, the European Union, the OSCE, and the Council of Europe. China or the United States might have more influence over Moscow, the human rights advocate suggests.
That kind of outside intervention helped secure the release of five commanders who led the defense of the Azovstal steel plant in 2023. Turkey and its president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, stepped in to help resolve the situation.
In Oleshky's case, the only organization authorized to enter the area without breaking international humanitarian law is the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). It would need to seek Russia's permission to run a humanitarian mission.
"Nothing can be done without Russia's approval because entering without it would violate the rules. The ICRC operates only with permission. If it gets the green light, it goes in. It has no power to force its way in. And the chances that Russia will let the International Committee of the Red Cross into Oleshky are slim," Pavlichenko adds.
The roads leading to Oleshky are mined. Photo source: Ukrinform
Russia has blocked official UN missions before. In 2022, it refused to let UN investigators visit the burned prison in Olenivka. International experts never got to investigate the circumstances surrounding the deaths of Ukrainian prisoners of war there.
In 2024, a plane carrying Ukrainian prisoners of war crashed near Belgorod, Russia. Ukraine called for an international investigation involving the UN and the ICRC. Russia refused again.
"So Russia never grants permission for independent international monitoring. It may put on a show of cooperation by inviting handpicked representatives from Venezuela, Cuba, Zimbabwe, or elsewhere. They can then claim they saw everything and took notes. But that has no legal force and does nothing to resolve the crisis," Pavlichenko says. "This is about real people, their lives, and the specific steps needed to save them. To make that happen, we need to find room for compromise and offer Russia something in exchange for allowing a humanitarian mission to enter."
Russia's Red Cross could step in, Pavlichenko says, but Ukraine strongly opposes the idea. Letting it operate there would effectively legitimize Russia's occupation. Ukraine would then have to choose: accept the mission to save lives or reject it because of the legal and political fallout.
There's another complication. If the Russian Red Cross enters Oleshky, Ukraine could report it to the ICRC for entering Ukrainian territory without permission. The Russian Red Cross could then lose its mandate, as happened to the Belarusian Red Cross. That alone would give Russia something to lose.
Pavlichenko says the involvement of Russia's Red Cross Society could become a bargaining point in talks between Ukraine and Russia: who would make concessions, to whom, and in exchange for what.
What's the solution?
What can Ukraine do now to prevent another Oleshky?х
- Documenting the crimes
Despite the difficulties of accessing occupied territory, Ukrainian authorities are carefully documenting Russian crimes. The Office of the Prosecutor General, including its War Department, and the National Police are entering relevant information into the Unified Register of Pretrial Investigations.
Investigators gather evidence by interviewing people who have escaped from the occupied town of Oleshky. These residents can serve as witnesses or victims in criminal proceedings.
"Law enforcement agencies are collecting evidence of all relevant violations so they can be properly classified and proven. This means more than just gathering people's testimony. It means building an evidence base with photos, videos, documents, physical evidence, and other proof that these crimes took place," Pavlichenko says.
Food and medicine have not been delivered to Oleshky since May 2026. Photo source: Esther Vratarova on Facebook
- Evacuation
Ukrainian authorities urge people to leave areas under attack or at risk of becoming battle zones.
Staying puts people at risk no matter what. When Ukrainian forces move to retake these areas, fighting could cause even more deaths. And if residents are trapped under conditions like those in Oleshky, they could die from a lack of food and medicine.
- Raising awareness
Media coverage and international attention can help draw attention to Oleshky, but unfortunately, they don't influence Russia's decisions. The human rights advocate says raising awareness mainly pressures international leaders to act. If they talk with Russia, Oleshky must be on the agenda. Public attention helps keep it there.
"Russia doesn't want the city to become empty, leaving its troops exposed to drone strikes and other attacks. That's what they're afraid of. It helps explain why the situation is unfolding this way," Pavlichenko says. "Getting Russia to agree to let civilians leave Oleshky will take careful, well-planned diplomacy."
