People in the temporarily occupied town of Oleshky are starving. There is almost nothing left to eat. Reports indicate that the civilian population is being forced to survive on grass and weeds, while access to medicine, clean water, electricity, and medical care is becoming increasingly scarce. Children, too, are facing these conditions, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said regarding the situation in Oleshky.
“This suffering has a clear cause and a clear perpetrator. Russia caused this catastrophe in Oleshky through its illegal occupation and bears full responsibility for this humanitarian disaster, all its consequences, and the deaths of innocent civilians.
The international community must mobilize all available tools to reach the people in Oleshky, deliver humanitarian aid, and ensure the safe evacuation of those who wish to leave. The UN, the ICRC, and other international actors must use their mandates and channels to secure immediate and unimpeded humanitarian access.
I thank Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Michael O’Flaherty for drawing international attention to the situation in Oleshky. Now, that attention must be backed by action. People there cannot survive on expressions of concern alone. Humanitarian access and safe evacuation must become a reality, because every day counts,” Sybiha wrote on X.
United24
Europe? Europe is watching.