Recovering from lung cancer surgery, Pope Leo XIV spoke with Vladimir V. Putin to make a plea for Oleshky, where mines and drones have trapped some 2,000 people who are at risk of starvation.

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After a glide bomb killed his wife and younger daughter, Yevhen Ovcharov was determined to prevent other Ukrainians from dying the same way.

Evacuation is almost impossible and food is running out in Russian-occupied Oleshky, a city menaced by mines and drones.

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