Adnkronos (Adnkronos) – American First Lady Melania Trump has secured a ceasefire in the Ukrainian town of Oleshky, effective October 29. The announcement of the mediation comes just days after Pope Leo XVI held telephone conversations with both Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky, requesting a humanitarian truce in Oleshky.
It is “hell on earth,” according to Ukrainians familiar with the conditions, quoted in late September by the British Guardian.
In September, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov spoke of a "critical situation," continuing to accuse Kiev's forces of impeding the delivery of aid. Putin also outlined to the Pope, with a "comprehensive explanation," what the Kremlin believes to be Ukraine's responsibility for the humanitarian situation in the city and expressed support for the Vatican's initiative aimed at creating the necessary conditions to guarantee the safety of the population of Oleshky and allow the arrival of essential supplies.
The last grocery store in Oleshky closed last January.
The last ground delivery of food supplies dates back to May. Since then, aid packages have been dropped by drones from Kiev forces. The town of Oleshky (Alyoshki in Russian), on the left bank of the Dnipro River, opposite Kherson, only nine kilometers away as the crow flies, has been occupied by Russian forces since 2022.
The Antonivskyi Bridge connecting it to Kherson was blown up by the Russians in October of that year, during the withdrawal following the counteroffensive by Kiev forces. The residents who were unable to leave during these years of war—estimated to be 6.000 civilians in Oleshky and the six surrounding settlements, including 200 children—are without food, water, gas, electricity, or adequate medical care. They are unable even to bury their dead. Human Rights Watch (HRW) notes that approximately 24.000 people lived in the city before the launch of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
In July, HRW reported that the streets in and around the city were mined and drones were flying over the area. In April, Tetiana Hasanenko, the mayor who has now left the city, denounced a "humanitarian catastrophe" in the Kyiv Independent. Now winter is upon us.
Ambulances are no longer responding. Serious patients cannot be transferred to hospitals elsewhere. The local hospital, long considered the last resort, remains open, but is out of medicine and fuel for generators and has not been receiving patients since the end of September.
People have long resorted to bartering to acquire what they need. This summer, those who remained lived off what they grew in their gardens. A resident testified to Ukrainska Pravda that they're starting to eat dogs. Those who dare, cycle or walk to the village of Radensk, 20 kilometers further from the front and better supplied. But the journey is dangerous. Even the Russian soldiers left to guard this outpost are without food and are stealing it from the residents. They don't allow residents to bury those killed in the bombings. They want to take the bodies to Henichesk to certify that they were killed by the Ukrainians. The bodies are stored in the hospital cellars after the morgue was closed. Since May, about a hundred have accumulated.
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