The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine draws the international community's attention to the severe humanitarian crisis in parts of the temporarily occupied Kherson region as a result of Russian occupying forces’ crimes, which flagrantly violate international humanitarian law.
The situation is particularly alarming in Oleshky, Hola Prystan, Stara Zburivka, and Nova Zburivka. In these areas, basic living conditions are entirely non-existent. Russian forces are artificially blocking evacuations and obstructing the delivery of essential goods, food, and medicine.
The regional population has plummeted from 40,000 to approximately 6,000. In Oleshky specifically, the population has dropped from 24,000 to just 2,000 residents.
Critical infrastructure is destroyed; there is no electricity or gas. Residents attempting to buy food or flee in private vehicles are being targeted by Russian drone attacks.
Over 6,000 people, including approximately 200 children, are in urgent need of humanitarian aid. Most are individuals with limited mobility. To date, Ukrainian state authorities have received more than 220 direct requests for evacuation from these settlements.
These reports are corroborated by the Office of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, Ukrainian intelligence, and various international organizations.
There are harrowing accounts of residents unable to bury loved ones due to relentless hostilities. Families are forced to survive in subhuman conditions without access to clean drinking water, food, or vital medical supplies.
The MFA, in coordination with the Coordination Headquarters for Evacuation chaired by the Ministry for Communities and Territories Development, has launched urgent consultations with the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to find ways to rescue our citizens.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs calls on international partners to exert pressure on Russia to comply with international humanitarian law, demand the creation of evacuation corridors and necessary conditions for safe passage. Information regarding these crimes will be submitted to international monitoring missions. Ukraine will officially raise this crisis at the UN and OSCE platforms.
For Ukraine, nothing is more valuable than human life. We urge the international community to take immediate, concrete action to save our citizens in the occupied Kherson region.