Ludmilla clutches her phone on the rooftop of a fire-damaged house, describing a city slowly suffocating under the weight of war. Oleshky, a frontline city in southern Ukraine, has been largely cut off from fresh food and medicine supplies for months, trapping its remaining 2,000 residents in what residents call an impossible choice: stay and starve, or risk their lives fleeing along a heavily mined road dubbed “The Road of Death.” Since Russia’s full-scale invasion, the city has been imprisoned by geography and conflict—cut off by a destroyed river crossing to the north and dangerous, impassable roads inland. As Ukrainian forces hold positions just across the Dnipro river near the recaptured city of Kherson, civilians caught between the opposing armies face a deepening humanitarian crisis, with Ukraine’s human rights commissioner warning of catastrophic conditions.
A Town Cut From the World
Oleshky’s isolation is both geographical and total. The city is located on the east bank of the Dnipro river, with all bridges to the north destroyed or rendered impassable. To the southern and western areas, roads inland are either dangerous or blocked entirely. This geographical situation has been made infinitely worse by the persistent fighting. Russian forces control the city itself, whilst Ukrainian troops are entrenched on the opposite riverbank near Kherson, which they retook in November 2022. Sandwiched between opposing armies, Oleshky has become a neglected pocket of territory where regular supply lines have simply ceased to exist.
The impacts for ordinary residents have been devastating. For months, fresh food and medicine have been extremely scarce, compelling people to forage through empty properties and subsist on occasional aid from volunteers and aid organisations. Tinned products and pasta have formed the main food source for those who remain. Prices for even these basic supplies have risen sharply, putting them inaccessible to many. The situation deteriorated more severely in winter, when deep snow obscured the sprawling minefield encircling potential routes out, heightening the sense of desperation. The Ukrainian human rights commissioner has officially cautioned of a humanitarian catastrophe occurring inside the city.
- Dnipro river cuts off escape paths to the north with ruined bridging infrastructure
- Russian occupation holds the city; Ukrainian forces maintain positions on opposite riverbank
- Supply deliveries scarcely obtainable; residents scavenge deserted buildings for food
- Winter snowfall concealed mines; the situation stays perilous despite seasonal thaw
The Precarious Decision: Remain or Escape
For the approximately 2,000 remaining civilians in Oleshky, the choice to depart is not straightforward. Staying means suffering deteriorating conditions, malnutrition, and the constant threat of shelling and drone attacks. Yet leaving involves its own harrowing equation. Those who attempt to leave must cross what locals have grimly named “The Road of Death” – a route so heavily mined that each passage becomes a bet with one’s life. People describe the emotional agony of this decision: remaining in a crumbling city or facing death on the roads out.
Some families have gathered the strength to attempt escape despite the odds. Volodymyr, a man in his fifties, finally determined that his family could no longer withstand the psychological and physical toll of existence in a conflict zone. After observing a neighbour’s body being taken away after a bombardment, and existing under relentless aerial surveillance, he made the difficult determination to depart. His account of the evacuation journey reveals the horror that awaits those willing to make the attempt: the entire highway is littered with burnt-out vehicles, some holding the bodies of those who failed to survive the attempt.
Escape Routes Lined With Danger
The main escape route extends south-west along the Dnipro river towards Hola Prystan’, but this path is perilous. Heavy mining operations has made the roads dangerous and unpredictable. During winter, when snow blanketed the landscape, locating threat zones became extremely difficult, compelling residents to postpone their attempts. Even now, as the snow has melted, residents and volunteers remain profoundly anxious that the mines remain concealed underground, waiting to claim unsuspecting travellers.
Despite these alarming conditions, some evacuations have succeeded, generally arranged by aid organisations utilising ambulances and additional vehicles. Those who have completed the journey speak of offering prayers through the drive, seeking to evade the hidden explosives. The scorched wrecks of cars along the road act as stark warnings of previous attempts. Yet for some families, the dangers of travel has grown more acceptable than the prospect of gradual decline within the isolated city of Oleshky.
- Road running south-west towards Hola Prystan’ heavily mined; winter snow obscured danger
- Evacuations arranged by local helpers using ambulances; survivors describe constant prayer
- Highway littered with burnt-out vehicles; some evacuations have succeeded despite risks
Signs of Destruction on the Ground
Satellite imagery and eyewitness accounts reveal a grim situation of Oleshky’s deterioration following prolonged isolation and conflict. The city, formerly inhabited by tens of thousands, now shelters roughly 2,000 residents who have decided to stay in spite of the severe conditions. Photographs obtained by the BBC document crowded scenes in city squares where older inhabitants wait for fresh supplies delivered by aid organisations—a stark illustration of the humanitarian strain. The photographic record supports residents’ descriptions of decay and desperation, with abandoned homes providing a grim backdrop to daily survival efforts.
| Location | Observations |
|---|---|
| City squares | Crowds of elderly residents gathering for aid deliveries; fresh supplies rare and expensive |
| Highway to Hola Prystan’ | Littered with burnt-out vehicles; some cars burned with occupants still inside |
| Residential areas | Fire-damaged houses; abandoned homes stripped for food and resources by neighbours |
| Rooftops and vantage points | Used by residents for phone communication; surveillance by opposing drone activity |
The structural devastation apparent in Oleshky reflects not simply the signs of conflict but the combined burden of prolonged isolation. Residents have relied on scavenging in abandoned properties for food, whilst fundamental foodstuffs like tinned foods and pasta have turned into dietary mainstays. The relief coordinator’s warning of an developing emergency underscores institutional anxiety about conditions deteriorating further as the cold season nears and distribution channels stay uncertain.
Blame and Humanitarian Pleas
Ukraine’s commissioner for human rights has raised serious concerns about the deepening humanitarian crisis unfolding in Oleshky, drawing international attention to circumstances that authorities contend amount to a deliberate blockade. The city’s isolation—whether by military requirement or tactical consideration—has created a situation where thousands of civilians confront untenable options: remain in a declining urban area with diminishing resources, or risk death attempting escape. Both local inhabitants and humanitarian personnel highlight the combination of mined roads, destroyed bridges, and active combat zones as creating a perfect storm of entrapment. The commissioner’s intervention indicates heightened concern among Ukrainian officials about the sustainability of civilian life in this overlooked section of the conflict zone.
Local volunteers and aid organisations have become essential resources for Oleshky’s remaining population, coordinating perilous deliveries and planned withdrawals despite overwhelming obstacles. Yet their work, no matter how valiant, cannot tackle the underlying crisis: a city of 2,000 people living off canned food and gathered provisions whilst engulfed in fierce fighting. Ludmilla’s description of her burnt-out roof encapsulates the hopelessness—people “trying their best to survive” in a place where mere survival feels progressively uncertain. The social impact extends past hunger and medical shortages to encompass mental suffering, as residents observe destruction and death on a magnitude that strains our capacity to endure.
Worldwide Response and Accountability
The predicament of Oleshky residents raises pressing questions about global humanitarian responsibilities and the obligation of belligerent forces to ensure civilian safety. Russia’s continued occupation of the city and Ukrainian military operations across the Dnipro river both compound the perilous situation, yet frameworks for responsibility remain unclear. International bodies monitoring the conflict have catalogued the situation, but turning documentation into meaningful intervention has proved challenging given the ongoing military deadlock. The shortage of a defined route to either continued humanitarian assistance or removal of civilians highlights the constraints of international pressure in active conflict zones.
Calls for aid passages and demilitarised evacuation routes have become increasingly pressing as circumstances decline. Aid workers contend that both Russian and Ukrainian forces have duties under global legal frameworks to facilitate civilian passage and safeguard civilians. Yet strategic military circumstances—the strategic importance of the Dnipro crossing, the danger of militarised aid operations—obstruct realisation. Without formal arrangements between opposing forces and worldwide safeguards, Oleshky’s residents remain caught in a void of legal protection and practical support, their survival dependent on the charity of humanitarian actors rather than the safeguards of global legal frameworks.
The Remaining Few
Oleshky’s dwindling population tells a story of impossible choices. Of the city’s wartime population, only some 2,000 people stay, clinging to their homes despite conditions that deteriorate by the day. Those who have chosen to stay cite different motivations: elderly relatives too frail to risk the journey, strong ties to a community spanning generations, or simply a paralyzing fear of what lies past the mined roads. For many, the known dangers of staying have seemed marginally preferable to the unfamiliar perils of making an escape along the “Road of Death.”
Daily life in Oleshky has been cut back to its most basic elements. Residents rummage through abandoned neighbouring homes for scraps, adding to their food intake with pasta and tinned goods when volunteers succeed in deliver supplies. The psychological toll is immense: witnessing shelling, hearing the relentless hum of aircraft overhead, and living under Russian occupation whilst Ukrainian forces position themselves just across the river. Yet despite these difficult conditions, the residents who remain display a stubborn resilience, maintaining hope that circumstances might improve in time or that evacuation routes will become safer.
- Roughly 2,000 inhabitants remain in Oleshky, down markedly from pre-war population figures.
- Residents subsist on scavenged provisions from empty properties and infrequent volunteer-coordinated supply runs.
- Elderly and infirm residents experience considerable challenges to evacuation due to health and mobility constraints.