A porcelain fish survived the Russian strike that destroyed a room in the Kyiv apartment of Andrii Dubenko, a volunteer, dentist, and medic, his cousin Anna Danylenko wrote on Facebook and told UP Life, the lifestyle site of Ukrainska Pravda. Dubenko and two others were inside the nine-story building in Lisovyi masyv when the 13 October strike hit. It killed other residents.

The strike came during a ballistic attack aimed mainly at CHP-4, one of Kyiv’s main power plants, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, two days after Washington announced an energy ceasefire that Moscow never confirmed.

Lifted out in a rescue basket

Dubenko, his girlfriend, and a 72-year-old aunt were inside when the blast hit, Anna told UP Life. Her family was lucky, she wrote, and the rule of two walls saved their lives. The rule tells anyone who can’t reach a shelter to keep at least two walls between themselves and the street, away from windows. Fifteen minutes after the blast, State Emergency Service rescuers lifted the three out in a basket, Anna wrote. The aunt comforted the girlfriend, telling her not to live in the past but to look to the future, Anna said.

A hole where the window was

“Just on Monday I was sitting in their cozy apartment, where I grew up, and now I’m looking into a hole that just two days ago was a window,” Anna wrote.

She gathered what was left of the tea set the family used for samovar tea while her grandmother was alive. “It was my anchor, the anchor of our family,” she wrote. The porcelain fish survived. Her mother used to play with it, and Anna now calls it the “fish of unbreakability.” UP Life likened it to the ceramic rooster that survived in a wrecked kitchen in Borodianka, Kyiv Oblast, in 2022 and became a symbol of Ukrainian resilience.

The family didn’t sleep that night. Firefighters were still putting out the blaze overnight, so they could only get back inside in the morning.

“Charred ruins, lots of water in the hallway, which burned out. People are throwing broken things out the window, down by the building. The smell of burning is everywhere,” she told UP Life.

People in Russian-occupied Oleshky, a town in southern Ukraine, are running out of food and medicine and have no way out, a local resident told RBC-Ukraine. Ukraine's human rights ombudsman told the outlet that civilians there are dying of hunger every day.

The part of Kherson Oblast across the Dnipro River has been under Russian occupation since 2022, with civilians facing food and medicine shortages and restrictions on leaving. The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine has documented deteriorating conditions in Oleshky and neighboring Hola Prystan. There has been no practical breakthrough toward an organized evacuation, though 358 people who need help to leave Oleshky and nearby settlements have been verified. About 2,000 people remain in Oleshky, Kherson Oblast head Oleksandr Prokudin estimated.

The resident, who spoke anonymously, said food is extremely scarce, and residents are waiting for a humanitarian corridor to leave. The local market offers mostly vegetables and fruit, such as tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, pears, and apples. Russia made its ruble the only legal currency in occupied Kherson Oblast from 1 January 2023, pushing out the Ukrainian hryvnia. Prices at the market start at 500 rubles (about $6), and "if you're lucky, 10 eggs can be bought for 3,000 rubles" (about $36), the resident said. That is about $3.60 an egg, nearly 20 times the US average of about $0.19, or $2.27 a dozen in August, US government data show.

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Ukraine's human rights ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, told RBC-Ukraine that civilians in the occupied area were dying every day.

"There is a humanitarian catastrophe there. Ukrainian civilians die there every day because they lack even basic food and water. There have been no medicines there for a long time. According to our information, there is simply hunger there," he said.

Practically no medicines

The resident said there were practically no medicines available. Expired drugs were being sold at about 100 rubles (about $1.20) a pill. His father has Parkinson's syndrome and has been concussed twice. The resident said he was forced to reduce his father's dose by 25% so the supply would last at least until the new year.

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Thousands are starving in occupied Oleshky. People have no food, no way out, and Russian forces bomb incoming aid

The resident's apartment had burned down, and his house remained damaged. His family had made the house livable and was living there, he said. His wife had lost more than 40 kilograms while the family relied on vegetables and fruit.

Beyond Oleshky: villages with no transport or aid

Four villages in the Hola Prystan community—Kokhany, Kardashynka, Velyka Kardashynka, and Mala Kardashynka—are effectively blocked, according to the Skhid-SOS fund. The fund told RBC-Ukraine that no transport reaches the villages and no humanitarian aid has been delivered for a prolonged period, although it is difficult to get more information from the villages. Residents are forced to walk or cycle to other settlements to find food, despite the risks of mines and drone strikes.

Civilians used as a buffer

Lubinets also said Russian troops were using civilians as a buffer and as protection against the Ukrainian military, RBC-Ukraine reported. Because Ukrainian citizens remain in Oleshky, Ukraine cannot conduct active combat operations there, he said—which, in his view, allows Russia to hold civilians effectively as hostages on the front line.

Food arrives by drone, but how much reaches residents is unclear

Ukraine has delivered food to Oleshky by drone since March, Prokudin said. Nearly 400 parcels weighing almost 4 tons reached their drop-off points on the night of 4 October, Interior Minister Ivan Vyhivskyi said. How much of the food stays with residents is unclear. Prokudin has said Russian forces shoot down supply drones, confiscate or resell the packages, and detain and beat residents who receive them.

After a previous delivery, Tetiana Hasanenko, head of the Oleshky City Military Administration, said that Russian troops take drone-dropped food and accuse those who receive it of cooperating with Ukraine, and that some residents got several packages while others got none.

Nearly 400 parcels containing food, medicine, and children's kits were delivered to occupied Oleshky on the night of 4 October, weighing almost 4 tons in total, Interior Minister Ivan Vyhivskyi said. All the parcels reached their destinations, he added.

The operation was the second ton-scale drone delivery into the blockaded occupied town in a week. Ukrainian drone deliveries to Oleshky have run regularly since March, and on 27 September Ukrainian forces flew about 4,000 kg of food to 100 locations across the town.

What happens to the parcels after they land

Delivery does not mean the aid stays with the people it was meant for. Kherson Oblast head Oleksandr Prokudin said Russian forces shoot down drones carrying food and take supplies from residents. He also said Russian forces detain and use violence against people who receive the aid.

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Prokudin also said Russian forces take food intended for children and sell it, according to Radio Svoboda. Tetiana Hasanenko, head of the Oleshky City Military Administration, said Russian troops question residents about where the food came from and treat receiving Ukrainian aid as cooperation with Ukraine.

Monitors describe a blockade, and the Kremlin blames Ukraine

About 2,000 people remain in Oleshky, including nearly 50 children, Prokudin said. In June, Danielle Bell, head of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, said that food could not get into Oleshky and that sick and injured people were not receiving the medical assistance they needed. Residents had reported that no shipments had reached the town for nearly a month.

The Institute for the Study of War has described Russia's restrictions on the town as an effective blockade. The Kremlin acknowledged a "genuine humanitarian catastrophe" in Oleshky but blamed Ukraine for it: spokesman Dmitry Peskov claimed to The New York Times that Ukraine was preventing residents from leaving and disrupting supplies of food and water with drones.

The drone crews behind the deliveries

Several Ukrainian units carried out the 4 October delivery. Vyhivskyi named the National Guard's 11th Mykhailo Hrushevskyi Brigade and 34th Kherson Regiment, the 30th Marine Corps, the 34th Separate Marine Brigade Borysfen, and the 79th Border Guard Detachment. The Perun drone crew also rescued six animals from the occupied territory, he said.

What has changed since 2023

Drone aid to Oleshky is not new. In 2023, Ukrainian drone operators dropped water and other supplies to civilians in Oleshky and nearby settlements. What distinguishes the current effort is its repeated, ton-scale deliveries into the occupied town.

Ukrainian forces carried out one of the largest drone food delivery operations across the Dnipro to occupied Oleshky, dropping about 4,000 kg of supplies provided by partners at 100 locations across the city where people are trapped without food, electricity, or water, Kherson Oblast head Oleksandr Prokudin said on 27 September. Russian forces punish residents who receive aid—shooting down supply drones, confiscating packages, and beating people caught accepting food, he noted.

Oleshky—a city across the Dnipro from liberated Kherson—has been occupied since 2022. Russia sealed off the city in late 2025, and conditions worsened sharply in early 2026 as occupation forces cut off food supplies, prevented evacuation, and left the dead unburied. The drone flights are now the only humanitarian operation reaching the trapped population, making each sortie both a lifeline and a target for Russian forces that treat civilian starvation as a tool of control.

Multiple military units flew food across the Dnipro

Since March, Ukrainian forces have been systematically delivering food to Oleshky by drone in coordination with the 11th National Guard Brigade's Bolharychi unit and the 34th Separate Marine Brigade Borysfen, Prokudin said.

The latest operation expanded the effort: the 30th Marine Corps, the Hrim tactical group, the 34th National Guard Regiment, and the 79th Border Detachment joined alongside the Borysfen brigade and the Bolharychi unit.

"Instead of loud statements, we chose the path of concrete action," Prokudin wrote.

The deliveries fly across the Dnipro and drop food packages at pre-selected locations across the occupied city.

Prokudin said about 2,000 people remain trapped in Oleshky, including nearly 50 children. Ukraine's ombudsman and international monitors have put the figure at up to 6,000, with about 200 children.

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Russia shoots down supply drones and beats residents for receiving food

Russian forces try to disrupt the deliveries. Soldiers shoot down drones carrying food, confiscate or resell packages meant for children and elderly residents, and detain people caught receiving humanitarian aid, Prokudin said. Residents are thrown into basements and beaten.

"Deliberate blocking of aid and creation of famine among the civilian population are war crimes with no statute of limitations. Everyone involved in these actions will face inevitable accountability," Prokudin wrote.

Ukraine prepared an evacuation list, secured the ICRC's readiness, and coordinated a ceasefire on its side, but Russia has not confirmed its readiness to open a route, Ukraine's ombudsman said.

Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Michael O'Flaherty warned on 25 September that the humanitarian crisis in Oleshky is deteriorating rapidly. Civilians, including children, are trapped without food, medicines, medical care, running water, or electricity, and reports indicate a high risk of death, he said. Under international humanitarian law, Russia as the occupying power is obliged to provide the population with food and medical supplies, O'Flaherty noted, and called for an immediate local ceasefire, unimpeded humanitarian access, and safe evacuation of civilians.

Oleshky, a Ukrainian city under Russian occupation in Kherson Oblast, is facing a severe humanitarian crisis, with more than 6,000 people, including around 200 children, potentially trapped there, according to Ukrainian Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets.

Civilians are going without food, drinking water, medicine, and other basic necessities while facing daily shelling and drone attacks, Lubinets said.

The crisis has become so desperate that some residents are trying to escape on their own without waiting for an organized evacuation, crossing mined fields because they see no other way out. They risk being killed by mines or Russian drones, but are attempting to leave because staying in Oleshky has become even more dangerous.

“People need to be saved,” Lubinets said, describing the city as a “death trap.”

Thousands remain trapped

Lubinets said his office has received 176 appeals concerning the humanitarian situation in the temporarily occupied territories of Kherson Oblast and has verified 358 people who urgently need assistance to safely leave the area.

He stressed that these are only people his office has managed to identify. Based on the population of Oleshky and the surrounding area, more than 6,000 people may still remain there, including around 200 children, he said.

The civilians remaining in the city are effectively in a “gray zone,” according to Lubinets. They face daily shelling and drone attacks while lacking food, drinking water, medicine, and other essential assistance.

“The stories make your blood run cold. And so there is only one task — to get our people out of this deadly danger,” Lubinets said.

“There is real hunger there”

Other reporting indicates that the shortages have persisted for months. According to Kherson Regional Military Administration head Oleksandr Prokudin, food deliveries to Oleshky have almost completely stopped, while Russian forces prevent residents from evacuating.

Natalia Soboleva, an Odesa volunteer who tracks the situation in Oleshky, told Espreso that residents are gathering grass and searching through destroyed basements for food.

“There is hunger there, real hunger,” she said.

The blockade has also affected humanitarian efforts. Soboleva said Russian forces attacked humanitarian vehicles attempting to bring food and water into the city. During the latest reported attempt on 1 September, Russian troops shelled four volunteer vehicles.

The crisis in Oleshky has been independently documented by international organizations and media. The UN, Human Rights Watch and the OSCE have all reported severe shortages of food and medical care, dangerous conditions for civilians, and restrictions on humanitarian aid and evacuation.

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Russia has not confirmed evacuation, so civilians risk mines to escape

The ombudsman said some people are now trying to leave independently. They are crossing mined areas despite the risk of being killed by a mine or targeted by a drone because they do not see another way to escape.

This desperation has also been documented by Human Rights Watch, which said there is no organized evacuation route from Oleshky and that people attempting to leave face Russian military checkpoints and a dangerous journey through occupied territory.

Lubinets said Ukraine has been pressing for an organized humanitarian evacuation.

Ukraine and Russia had previously reached agreements and established clear procedures for such a mission, he said. Lubinets also secured the International Committee of the Red Cross’ readiness to participate within its mandate.

Ukraine prepared a list of people for evacuation and coordinated with its Security and Defense Forces to establish a ceasefire during the humanitarian mission.

But Russia has not confirmed its readiness to carry out the evacuation, according to Lubinets.

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Months ago, he said, he informed international organizations, including the United Nations and the ICRC headquarters in Geneva, about the critical situation and called for assistance to prevent mass deaths.

Lubinets said his office continues to collect and verify information and coordinate with the ICRC, international organizations and Ukrainian authorities. It is also continuing to press Russia for an urgent evacuation of civilians remaining in Oleshky.

The situation is difficult to independently verify because Oleshky is under Russian occupation and access to the city is severely restricted. But reports of the humanitarian crisis have been corroborated by the UN, Human Rights Watch, the OSCE and other international organizations, as well as Ukrainian and international media.

The front-line city of Kostiantynivka in Ukraine's Donetsk Oblast is facing a looming "humanitarian catastrophe" as ongoing Russian strikes destroy critical infrastructure and leave thousands without basic services, Governor Vadym Filashkin said on June 25.

Kostiantynivka, in eastern Donetsk Oblast, lies just 10 to 15 kilometers (6 to 9 miles) from several areas currently occupied by Russian forces, according to battlefield mapping site DeepState. The city has come under intensified attack in recent months as Moscow pushes westward beyond its gains around other nearby towns.

According to Filashkin, nearly half the city is without electricity due to shelling, and 1,900 households in the Santurynivka district have no access to gas, with restoration currently impossible. Water is supplied just once a day from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., meeting only 20–25% of the city's needs.

Drone strikes have halted all city bus operations, while the suburban route to Druzhkivka, a nearby town, is operating on a limited basis, Filashkin said.

Yevhen Alkhimov, press officer of Ukraine's 28th Mechanized Brigade, which is fighting near Kostiantynivka, told the Kyiv Independent that "the greatest danger at the moment comes from first person view (FPV) drones, including fiber optic models."

"The enemy is trying to control all logistics and communication routes," he said, adding: "The Russians’ goal right now is not so much to destroy the city as it is to make it unsuitable for defense by controlling all the roads."

Alkhimov said Russian forces were deliberately targeting vehicles including civilian buses.

"They are trying to fully control all movement in the city using their drones," he said.

Authorities have installed seven large water tanks and 11 smaller containers throughout the city, in addition to 12 wells, six of which are equipped with filtration systems. Five "Points of Invincibility," Ukraine's emergency support hubs, are operational, with two more on standby.

Despite the risks, emergency crews, doctors, utility workers, and local officials continue to work in the city.

"Civilians still remain in the city, and life is becoming more and more difficult for them," Alkhimov said.

"There are fewer people left, the curfew is now longer, but nonetheless, people are still there, and it is truly very dangerous for them to stay in the city."

Filashkin urged those still in the city to evacuate.

Russia has intensified its offensive in eastern Ukraine while insisting that any peace negotiations must recognize its claimed annexation of four Ukrainian oblasts and Crimea. Russian forces do not fully control any of the four regions it seeks to claim.

Ukraine has ruled out ceding its territory as part of any peace agreement.

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