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 City Isolated Off From Civilisation
Oleshky’s seclusion is both physical and complete. The city lies on the eastern 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 hazardous or completely blocked. This geographical predicament has been made infinitely worse by the persistent fighting. Russian forces hold the city itself, whilst Ukrainian troops are entrenched on the other side of the river near Kherson, which they recaptured in November 2022. Caught between two armies, Oleshky has become a forgotten pocket of territory where regular supply lines have effectively ceased to exist.
The effects for civilians have been catastrophic. For months, fresh food and medicine have been extremely scarce, forcing residents to search deserted buildings and rely entirely on occasional aid from humanitarian groups. Canned foods and pasta have emerged as the staple diet for those who remain. Prices for even these basic supplies have risen sharply, putting them unaffordable for many. The situation deteriorated more severely in winter, when heavy snowfall covered the sprawling minefield surrounding potential escape routes, deepening feelings of despair. Ukraine’s human rights commissioner has formally warned of a humanitarian emergency unfolding within the city’s walls.
- Dnipro river severs northern escape routes with destroyed bridges
- Russian occupation holds the city; Ukrainian forces maintain positions on the far bank
- New provisions in short supply; residents scavenge vacant properties for sustenance
- Winter snowfall obscured mines; the situation stays hazardous despite seasonal thaw
The Difficult Choice: Remain or Flee
For the approximately 2,000 remaining civilians in Oleshky, the choice to depart is not a straightforward one. Remaining entails enduring deteriorating conditions, undernourishment, and the ongoing threat of artillery fire and drone strikes. Yet departure carries its own frightening calculation. Those who seek to leave must navigate what people have grimly termed “The Road of Death” – a path so heavily mined that each passage becomes a bet with one’s life. Locals recount the psychological torment of this choice: staying in a deteriorating city or risking death on the roads out.
Some families have gathered the strength to make their escape despite difficult circumstances. Volodymyr, a man in his fifties, eventually decided that his family could no longer withstand the psychological and physical toll of existence in a conflict zone. After witnessing his neighbour’s body being removed following a shelling attack, and living under constant drone surveillance, he made the difficult determination to evacuate. His narrative of the evacuation process reveals the horror that awaits those courageous enough to attempt: the full length of the road is covered in burnt-out vehicles, some containing the remains of those who did not survive the escape.
Escape Routes Fraught With Danger
The main escape route travels south-west along the Dnipro river towards Hola Prystan’, but this path is treacherous. Widespread mine placement has made the roads dangerous and unpredictable. During winter, when snow blanketed the landscape, locating threat zones became nearly impossible, compelling residents to postpone their attempts. Even now, as the snow has thawed, residents and volunteers remain intensely concerned that the mines remain hidden below ground, waiting to claim unsuspecting travellers.
Despite these harrowing conditions, some evacuations have succeeded, usually coordinated by aid organisations deploying ambulances and additional vehicles. Those who have completed the journey recount praying throughout the drive, attempting to escape the buried mines. The burnt-out shells of cars along the road act as grim reminders of earlier evacuations. Yet for some families, the risk of the road has grown more acceptable than the inevitability of slow deterioration within Oleshky’s cut-off boundaries.
- Road leading south-west towards Hola Prystan’ heavily mined; winter snow concealed danger
- Evacuations arranged by volunteers using ambulances; survivors report constant prayer
- Highway littered with burnt-out vehicles; some evacuations have managed to proceed despite risks
Evidence of Damage on the Ground
Satellite imagery and eyewitness accounts reveal a grim situation of Oleshky’s decline under months of 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 queue for fresh supplies provided by aid organisations—a striking example of the human cost. The visual evidence corroborates residents’ descriptions of deterioration and hardship, 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 visible damage apparent in Oleshky reflects not simply the marks of warfare but the combined burden of prolonged isolation. Residents have resorted to scavenging in abandoned properties for nourishment, whilst basic staples like pasta and tinned goods have become nutritional foundations. The relief coordinator’s warning of an developing emergency highlights institutional anxiety about conditions deteriorating further as freezing temperatures return and delivery lines continue unstable.
Responsibility and Humanitarian Concerns
Ukraine’s commissioner for human rights has raised serious concerns about the deepening humanitarian crisis occurring in Oleshky, drawing international attention to conditions that officials argue amount to a intentional siege. The city’s isolation—whether by military requirement or tactical consideration—has produced circumstances where thousands of civilians face impossible choices: stay within a declining urban area with dwindling supplies, or risk fatal attempts at escape. Residents and aid workers alike point to the convergence of roadside mines, collapsed bridges, and ongoing warfare as creating a perfect storm of entrapment. The ombudsman’s involvement indicates heightened concern among Ukrainian officials about the viability of civilian existence in this overlooked section of the conflict zone.
Local volunteers and relief organisations have become lifelines for Oleshky’s surviving residents, organising risky supply missions and organised retreats despite overwhelming obstacles. Yet their work, despite their heroism, cannot resolve the core issue: a city of 2,000 people subsisting on tinned goods and foraged food whilst engulfed in active warfare. Ludmilla’s description of her burnt-out roof encapsulates the despair—people “doing everything possible to stay alive” in a place where mere survival feels ever more fragile. The social impact extends past hunger and medical shortages to extend to psychological trauma, as residents see ruin and fatalities on a scale that tests human resilience.
Global Response and Accountability
The predicament of Oleshky residents poses urgent concerns about worldwide humanitarian duties and the obligation of belligerent forces to safeguard civilian populations. Russia’s ongoing military presence of the city and Ukrainian combat operations over the Dnipro river both add to the perilous situation, yet accountability mechanisms lack clarity. International organisations monitoring the conflict have documented the situation, but converting documentation to substantive action has proved challenging given the persistent military stalemate. The shortage of a established mechanism to either ongoing humanitarian support or civilian evacuation underscores the shortcomings of external pressure in active conflict zones.
Calls for humanitarian corridors and demilitarized withdrawal corridors have taken on greater importance as circumstances decline. Aid workers contend that both Russian and Ukrainian forces have responsibilities according to international conventions to facilitate civilian passage and protect non-combatants. Yet strategic military circumstances—the tactical value of the Dnipro crossing, the threat of weaponized assistance routes—hinder practical execution. Without concrete agreements between warring parties and global assurances, Oleshky’s residents are trapped within a legal and practical vacuum, their lives reliant upon the voluntary assistance of aid workers rather than the security provided by international conventions.
The Ones Who Stay
Oleshky’s dwindling population reveals difficult decisions. Of the city’s pre-war inhabitants, only some 2,000 people persist, clinging to their homes despite conditions that decline steadily. Those who have stayed cite multiple factors: elderly relatives too frail to risk the journey, deep roots in a community built over generations, or simply a overwhelming dread of what lies beyond the mined roads. For many, the known dangers of staying have appeared somewhat preferable to the unknown horrors of making an escape along the “Road of Death.”
Daily life in Oleshky has been stripped down 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 substantial: witnessing shelling, hearing the constant drone of aircraft overhead, and living under Russian occupation whilst Ukrainian forces position themselves just across the river. Yet despite these harrowing circumstances, the residents who remain demonstrate a stubborn resilience, maintaining hope that circumstances might improve in time or that evacuation routes will become safer.
- Roughly 2,000 residents remain in Oleshky, down substantially from pre-conflict population levels.
- Residents depend on gathered foodstuffs from deserted dwellings and sporadic aid deliveries arranged by volunteers.
- Senior and frail residents experience considerable challenges to evacuation due to physical limitations and medical conditions.