Ukraine FM says Russian-held town is a 'death trap' with starving residents, Zelensky says genocide

Jerusalem Post/World News/Russia-Ukraine WarOleshky had a pre-war population of 24,000 people and is now home to around 1,700 residents, including 47 children, according to the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine.Follow us on GoogleChildren use a flashlight as they go to play at the playground during a power blackout after critical civil infrastructure was hit by Russian missile and drone attacks, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine October 14, 2026.(photo credit: GLEB GARANICH/REUTERS)OCTOBER 17, 2026 23:36Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on Saturday that Russian occupying forces were turning the Ukrainian town of Oleshky into a "death trap" gripped by starvation, and urged international organizations to help evacuate its residents.Sybiha made his comments on X/Twitter a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged, in a conversation with Pope Leo, to cooperate in delivering vital supplies into the town in southern Ukraine's Kherson region."Russians are trying to turn the Ukrainian town of Oleshky into a death trap. The hospital has run out of medicine. Dozens of bodies lie in the streets or in homes, as Russians forbid residents from burying them," Sybiha wrote."Families are starving, surviving on leftover garden vegetables, preserves and even snails... Ukraine has repeatedly called for safe evacuation and international humanitarian access. These appeals cannot remain unanswered."The Kremlin acknowledged in September that Oleshky had critical problems with food and medical supplies but said Russia's military was working to resolve them. Ukraine's military has twice used drones to deliver food and medicine to the town.Russian President Vladimir Putin visits a command post of Russia's joint force grouping, in the course of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, at an unidentified location, in this still image taken from a video released on October 16, 2026. (credit: KREMLIN.RU/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS)UN, Red Cross urged to secure evacuations, humanitarian accessSybiha urged the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross and other organizations to "secure safe evacuation corridors and immediate humanitarian access."Oleshky lies on the east side of the Dnipro River in the Kherson region, which Russian forces mostly occupied soon after the 2022 invasion. A Ukrainian counteroffensive later recaptured large chunks of territory, including the city of Kherson.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy described the situation in Oleshky this week as "genocide."Oleshky had a pre-war population of 24,000 people and is now home to around 1,700 residents, including 47 children, according to Danielle Bell, head of the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine.Local prosecutors said on Saturday Russian forces dropped aerial bombs on the city of Kherson, on the opposite bank of the Dnipro from Oleshky, killing an ambulance driver and wounding 40 people.Follow us on Google