FM Sybiha: Russia must bear full responsibility for humanitarian catastrophe in Oleshky
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on Sunday, September 20, that Russia is the only obstacle to carrying out an evacuation from the temporarily occupied town of Oleshky in the Kherson region.
He said this in a post on X, according to Ukrinform.
“Russia is deliberately creating a humanitarian catastrophe in the occupied part of the Kherson region. It is blocking access to food and medicine, obstructing humanitarian access and the evacuation of civilians, while Russian FPV drones hunt people in the streets,” Sybiha stressed.
The Ukrainian Foreign Minister described the situation in Oleshky as “particularly dire.” He said that of a pre-war population of around 24,000, only about 2,000 people remain, including about 50 children. The Minister added that the town has no electricity or gas.
“Food, medicine, and other essentials have been blocked for the past month. Horrifying reports indicate that people are searching for scraps of food and gathering grass to survive,” Sybiha said.
He stressed that Ukraine is seeking to organize an evacuation. According to the Minister, the International Committee of the Red Cross has confirmed its readiness to participate in the evacuation, while international humanitarian organizations are ready to provide vital assistance.
“The only obstacle is Russia. Russia is deliberately preventing these efforts from reaching people who desperately need them, turning humanitarian access itself into an instrument of pressure,” Sybiha said.
The Ukrainian Foreign Minister said that during the UN General Assembly High-Level Week in New York, Ukraine would work to mobilize international pressure to secure humanitarian access, a humanitarian corridor, and the safe evacuation of civilians. Sybiha also said he intended to discuss these efforts with Mirjana Spoljaric, President of the International Committee of the Red Cross.
The international community must use its collective voice to break Russia’s humanitarian blockade, ensure immediate and unhindered access for humanitarian organizations, and enable the safe evacuation of civilians, Sybiha stressed.
“Moscow must not be allowed to turn occupation and isolation into a means of starving, terrorising, and trapping people beyond the reach of international assistance,” the Minister wrote.
He noted that what is happening in Oleshky and other occupied settlements in the Kherson region is the result of deliberate actions by Russia, stressing that Russia must bear full responsibility for creating this humanitarian catastrophe and its consequences.
“We will not allow these crimes to remain hidden behind the frontline and Russia’s refusal to grant access to the occupied territories,” Sybiha wrote.
As reported by Ukrinform, Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets said that after negotiations, the Russian side had for a long time failed to confirm its readiness to carry out the humanitarian evacuation of civilians from the area around the temporarily occupied Oleshky in the Kherson region.