Hundreds of residents evacuated from Russian-occupied Oleshky during a brief ceasefire in late October are receiving meals and medical care in Kyiv after food deliveries to the area ended in May.
The World Food Programme (WFP) and Ukrainian partner Iskra Dobra arranged hot meals for the group. Hospital employees and volunteers carried soup, bread and buckwheat porridge to patients, UN News reported. The evacuees are also receiving medical checkups and treatment at Kyiv hospitals.
Oleshky, in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region, was occupied and eventually cut off from humanitarian assistance as it became a frontline area after Russia’s 2022 invasion, UN News reported. Olha, 50, spent four and a half years there with her husband, Serhii, before leaving.
Residents told UN News that flour cost as much as $12 per kilogram and deliveries stopped in May. Olha and Serhii faced searches, questioning and threats during the occupation. Their shell-damaged home had no heat, so they slept in three layers of clothing.
Olha planted cucumbers, tomatoes and zucchini during lulls between attacks. She said the danger was frightening, but the family had no choice: “We had to eat.” She also recalled that nearby residents had eaten all the pigeons they could find.
Valentyna, 78, said she and other older residents gathered plants to make soup when staple foods were unavailable. Some evacuees cannot return to their homes, leaving their longer-term plans uncertain, UN News reported. EconoTimes previously covered the evacuation and reunion of a couple from Oleshky.
WFP says its assistance to Ukraine’s most vulnerable people since February 2022 is equivalent to 4.1 billion meals. Each month, it provides emergency food and cash assistance to 357,000 people in frontline communities, while about 200,000 students receive school meals daily.
