The city of Oleshky in the Kherson region, currently suffering under Russian occupation, has been reduced to a devastated ghost town. Recently, the 34th Separate Marine Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces published harrowing footage on the social media platform X, revealing the catastrophic scale of destruction inflicted by Russian troops on the civilian infrastructure.
In the released video, the Ukrainian defenders drew a grim comparison between the desolate streets of Oleshky and the post-apocalyptic atmosphere of the science fiction movie “Interstellar.” “In the film, the hero flies through space to save the future of humanity… But that is cinema. Oleshky is reality. It is a city that the Russians have turned into a ghost. And here, no one will rewrite the script,” the military stated, emphasizing the irreversibility of the damage caused by the occupying forces.
The severe humanitarian crisis in the city has been a persistent and heartbreaking issue. Earlier, the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets, reported that life in Oleshky had practically come to a halt, leaving the remaining residents in a state of mere survival.
According to the Ombudsman, the local population is enduring an absolute lack of basic necessities. “There is a catastrophic shortage of drinking water in the city. Stable electricity and gas supplies are completely absent, and medical assistance is severely limited,” Lubinets detailed. He further explained that people are forced to ration every single sip of water and crumb of food. Furthermore, any attempts to deliver food supplies often end in tragedy, as drivers face lethal danger on the roads. Lubinets firmly categorized these actions not merely as a humanitarian crisis, but as deliberate terrorism committed by the Russian Federation against a peaceful population.
Adding to the misery, the occupying administration continues its aggressive tactics against locals. Throughout the year, multiple reports emerged confirming that Russian forces have been forcibly evicting residents from their homes in Oleshky and the nearby town of Hola Prystan. The seized residential properties are subsequently repurposed to house Russian military officers or transformed into fortified combat positions, effectively using civilian residential areas as human shields.
Despite the overwhelming presence of enemy forces and the dire circumstances, the Ukrainian military continues to strike back. The Ukrainian Air Force previously carried out successful precision strikes against the command post of the Russian Armed Forces’ 17th Tank Regiment, part of the 70th Motorized Rifle Division, which had set up its base within the temporarily occupied territory of Oleshky.