Defense Forces Manage to Deliver 4,000 Kilograms of Food to Occupied Oleshky

Ukraine’s Defense Forces have delivered about 4,000 kilograms of food by drone to occupied Oleshky, where people are facing hunger, at 100 designated locations across the city.

Head of the Kherson Regional State Administration Oleksandr Prokudin reported this.

According to the regional administration, Russian forces are holding as hostages about 2,000 people in occupied Oleshky, including nearly 50 children who are being forced to survive without food, electricity or water.

Since March, the Administration, together with a unit of the 11th Brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine and personnel from the 34th Separate Marine Brigade Borysfen, has organized food deliveries across the Dnipro River using drones.

“Recently, we managed to carry out one of the largest such operations. In cooperation with the 30th Marine Corps, the Hrim tactical group, the 34th Marine Brigade Borysfen, the Bolharychi unit of the 11th Brigade of the National Guard, the 34th National Guard Regiment and the 79th Border Guard Detachment, we delivered about 4,000 kilograms of food to 100 designated locations across the city,” he said.

However, Russian military personnel are attempting to shoot down drones carrying food and are confiscating or reselling food intended for civilians. Occupation forces detain Oleshky residents for receiving humanitarian aid packages, hold them in basements, severely beat them and subject them to violence.

Situation in Oleshky

The city has been on the brink of a humanitarian disaster for almost a year, since late 2025. The last food supplies reached Oleshky in late May, when local entrepreneurs managed to enter the city in two commercial vehicles.

No subsequent attempt to deliver food was successful. During one such attempt on June 2, four vehicles hit mines, killing two people. Since then, there has been no regular food supply, and after stocks and garden produce ran out, residents found themselves on the brink of starvation.

As reported by Ukrainska Pravda, the problem is not limited to food. After the start of the occupation and the destruction of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant, the city has been without electricity, gas and drinking water, while medicines are also in critically short supply. Although the hospital is the only facility that continues to operate to some extent, even basic medical care cannot always be provided there.

All roads and access routes to Oleshky have been mined, while active fighting continues around the city, making evacuation impossible. ATMs and banks have not operated in the city for a long time. As a result, money has effectively lost its value. Although prices can formally be set for some goods, such as sugar or potatoes, in practice they are used only for barter.

Ukraine has repeatedly appealed to the International Committee of the Red Cross and partner countries for help organizing the evacuation of civilians. However, none of the negotiations produced results because Russia did not agree to a humanitarian corridor.

Oleshky is not the only city on the left bank of the Dnipro River that has found itself on the brink of a humanitarian disaster. There are also problems with food, medicine and transportation in Hola Prystan, Stara Zburivka, Nova Zburivka and other settlements in the region. According to rough estimates by volunteers, up to 1,500 people, including about 40 children, still remain in the city. Another 4,000 people and approximately 150 children remain in villages across the community.