Ukrainian foreign minister says Russian-held town is a ‘death trap’ with starving residents

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on Saturday that Russian occupying forces were turning the Ukrainian town of Oleshky into a “death trap” gripped by starvation, and urged international organisations to help evacuate ⁠its residents.

Sybiha made his comments ⁠on X a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged, in a conversation with Pope Leo, to cooperate in delivering vital supplies into the ⁠town in southern Ukraine’s Kherson region.

“Russians are trying to turn the Ukrainian town of Oleshky into a death trap. The hospital has run out of medicine. Dozens of bodies lie in the streets or in homes, as Russians forbid residents from burying them,” Sybiha wrote.

“Families are starving, surviving on leftover garden vegetables, preserves and even snails … Ukraine has repeatedly called for safe evacuation and international humanitarian access. These ⁠appeals ⁠cannot remain unanswered.”

The Kremlin acknowledged in September that Oleshky had critical problems with food and medical supplies but said Russia’s military was working to resolve them. Ukraine’s military has twice used drones to deliver food and medicine to the town.

Sybiha urged the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross and other organisations to “secure safe evacuation ⁠corridors and immediate humanitarian access.”

Oleshky lies on the east side of the Dnipro River in Kherson region, which Russian forces mostly occupied soon after the 2022 invasion. A Ukrainian counteroffensive later recaptured large chunks of territory, including the city of Kherson.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy described the situation in Oleshky this week ⁠as “genocide.”

Oleshky ‌had ‌a pre-war population of 24,000 people and ⁠is now home to around 1,700 ‌residents, including 47 children, according to Danielle Bell, head of the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring ⁠Mission in Ukraine.

Local prosecutors said on Saturday ⁠Russian forces dropped aerial bombs on the city of ⁠Kherson, on the opposite bank of the Dnipro from Oleshky, killing an ambulance driver and wounding 40 people.