Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha has once again drawn attention to the catastrophic situation in Oleshky, located in the Russia-occupied part of Kherson region; the international community must mobilize all available tools to deliver humanitarian aid and ensure the safe evacuation of those wishing to leave.
“People in temporarily occupied Oleshky are starving. There is almost nothing left to eat. Reports indicate that civilians are being forced to survive on grass and weeds, while medicines, clean water, electricity, and medical care are increasingly out of reach. Children are trapped in these conditions too,” he said on X Saturday.
Sybiha stressed that “this suffering has a clear cause and a clear perpetrator. Russia has brought this catastrophe to Oleshky through its illegal occupation and bears full responsibility for this humanitarian disaster, all of its consequences, and the innocent civilian lives lost as a result.”
“The international community must mobilize every available instrument to reach people in Oleshky, deliver humanitarian assistance, and ensure the safe evacuation of those who want to leave. The UN, the ICRC, and other international actors must use their mandates and channels to secure immediate and unhindered humanitarian access” Sybiha stressed.
The Foreign Minister expressed gratitude to Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Michael O'Flaherty for drawing international attention to the situation in Oleshky. “Now this attention must be followed by action. People there cannot survive on statements of concern. Humanitarian access and safe evacuation must become a reality, because every day matters,” Sybiha summed up.
