Standfirst: Tetiana Hasanenko, head of the Oleshky city military administration, says people remaining in the occupied Kherson-region town are struggling to find food, water and medical care. She warned that the conditions should be considered in any future discussion about Ukraine’s territory and a possible peace settlement.
Residents of Oleshky are reportedly surviving on extremely limited food supplies after more than four years under Russian occupation, according to the Ukrainian official responsible for the city’s military administration. Hasanenko said some people are eating only once a day, while others have been forced to consume weeds or grind pasta into flour.
Oleshky, in southern Ukraine’s Kherson region, has been under Russian control since the early days of Moscow’s full-scale invasion. Hasanenko told Euronews that the town is heavily damaged and that roughly 2,000 people may still be living there, although she stressed that no precise population figure is available.
Severe shortages in occupied Oleshky
According to Hasanenko, residents face shortages of basic necessities, including food and drinking water. Access to electricity, gas and medical services is also described as severely restricted.
She said the town has been left with almost no undamaged buildings and that children remain among those unable to leave. Hasanenko put the number of children still in Oleshky at 35, but conditions inside the occupied settlement cannot be independently verified.
The reported shortages include:
- Limited supplies of bread, meat, eggs and sugar
- Insufficient drinking water
- Restricted access to electricity and gas
- Little or no reliable medical care
- Residents surviving on one meal a day in some cases
Hasanenko said some meals consist of only a few spoonfuls of grain. She also described a message from a resident who reportedly received a loaf of bread and was initially unable to eat it because bread had become so unfamiliar and scarce.
A dangerous route out of the town
Leaving Oleshky is also reportedly hazardous. Hasanenko said residents attempting to reach the village of Radianske may have to walk approximately 25 kilometres through mined areas exposed to drone attacks.
She described the route as a “road of death”, saying some people have been killed by mines and that bodies may remain unrecovered. Those attempting the journey are often already weakened by hunger and poor living conditions.
Some residents who manage to escape later return with food for children or older relatives who cannot make the journey themselves. Hasanenko said the need to bring supplies back into the occupied town creates further risks for civilians.
Food deliveries face security risks
The official said around 10 tonnes of food were delivered during September and October with assistance from the Ukrainian military. She alleged that Russian forces fired on some deliveries and punished residents suspected of cooperating with Ukraine.
She also alleged that Russian soldiers entered homes and demanded food from residents, despite the reported shortages. These claims could not be independently verified because Oleshky remains under Russian occupation and independent media access is unavailable.
Why Oleshky matters to Ukraine’s territorial debate
Hasanenko linked the situation in Oleshky to international discussions about whether Ukraine should make territorial concessions in return for a potential agreement with Russia. Her argument is that any settlement must account for civilians who remain under occupation, rather than treating territory solely as a line on a map.
She rejected the idea that surrendering additional Ukrainian territory would necessarily produce lasting security guarantees. In her view, previous concessions have not created a durable settlement and could leave more communities vulnerable.
The position reflects one of the central questions in the war in Ukraine: whether a future peace process should prioritise an immediate halt to fighting, the restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity, or a combination of security and political guarantees. No peace agreement covering Oleshky or the wider occupied territories has been announced in the source material.
Residents maintain contact with Ukrainian officials
Despite the risks, Hasanenko said people in occupied areas continue to contact Ukrainian officials. She described receiving messages on Ukrainian national holidays, including messages featuring blue-and-yellow flags.
She warned that even retaining a Ukrainian SIM card can expose residents to danger under occupation. The messages, she said, show that some people still identify strongly with Ukraine and hope for the return of Ukrainian authorities.
Those accounts cannot independently establish the conditions faced by every resident of Oleshky. However, they illustrate the difficulty of obtaining reliable information from areas controlled by Russian forces, where journalists and humanitarian organisations may have limited access.
What happens next?
The immediate priority for civilians in Oleshky is access to food, water, medical assistance and a safe route to leave. Any humanitarian operation would face significant security challenges because of mines, drone attacks and the reported risks surrounding deliveries.
At the diplomatic level, the town’s experience is likely to remain part of Ukraine’s wider argument against territorial concessions without enforceable guarantees. The source does not report a new European Union decision or a formal peace proposal. Instead, it presents testimony from a Ukrainian official about the humanitarian consequences of occupation and the stakes involved in future negotiations.
Conclusion
The reported conditions in Oleshky underline the human consequences of Russia’s occupation of parts of Ukraine. For Hasanenko, the question is not only where a future border might be drawn, but whether civilians living under occupation are protected and included in any settlement. The account adds urgency to wider European news coverage of the war while highlighting that claims from inaccessible areas require continued independent verification.
