Residents of Oleshky, a city in southern Ukraine currently under Russian occupation, are enduring severe food shortages, with approximately 2,000 civilians, including 50 children, trapped in the area. A local woman described the situation as "a hell on earth," saying she had lost significant weight, from 110kg to 67kg, after food supplies ran out. Ukrainian authorities conducted a large-scale airdrop of emergency food, water, and medical supplies over the weekend using drones, following reports that Russia had rejected a ceasefire to allow the evacuation of civilians. The military governor's office in Kherson stated that about four tonnes of food were dropped to 100 locations, but it remains unclear how much was intercepted by Russian forces. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha raised the crisis in Oleshky at the UN General Assembly in New York, warning of a "humanitarian catastrophe" and accusing Russia of being the "only obstacle" to an evacuation. He compared the situation to the Holodomor, a famine orchestrated by the Soviet regime in the 1930s that resulted in millions of deaths. A "Save Oleshky" banner was displayed at a Ukraine-Hungary Nations League football match, highlighting the growing international concern. Residents of Oleshky are surviving on one meal a day, often consisting of soup without potatoes, made with courgette grown in what were once flower boxes of apartment houses, and sometimes with foraged purslane, an edible weed. Supplies have been severely limited since May, when Russian forces expanded minefields and drone coverage, halting the trickle of supplies. Ukrainian officials claim that Russian troops have stolen food supplies from civilians and in at least one case, the intended recipient was arrested. Kherson's military governor, Oleksandr Prokudin, described the airdrop as the largest operation of its kind, stating that food was delivered directly to 100 distribution points. He addressed the Russian forces, stating that civilians have no choice but to take food due to the conditions created by Russia, and urged them not to deprive people of the chance to survive and avoid starvation. He accused Russian occupying forces of obstructing aid, destroying vehicles delivering humanitarian supplies, and killing people attempting to bring in food and medicine. Tetiana Hasanenko, a Ukrainian official, stated that problems began in earnest late last year as access to the city became increasingly difficult due to high-density minefields and drone attacks. She mentioned that food deliveries became less frequent as vehicles hit mines and were targeted by drones. She described an incident where a 74-year-old man was murdered by Russian soldiers while digging out a cellar flooded with mud after the Kakhovka dam was blown up in 2023. Ukrainian officials believe that Russian forces are delaying the evacuation of civilians to discourage a Ukrainian counterattack. Hasanenko claimed that Russians are using civilians as human shields. She noted that the city, which has existed for nearly a thousand years, is now in "such horrible conditions, in such a hell like they do now," with dead bodies lying around the city. Residents described a situation where Russian soldiers dug up food supplies from elderly women, with one grandmother being threatened with the idea that people "soon to be living in heaven" should subsist on nothing but water. Calls for international assistance are increasing, with the Ukrainian army reported to have managed to deliver supplies using drones during the weekend of September 26 and 27. Kiev is demanding the opening of a humanitarian corridor, accusing Moscow of blocking aid delivery. A French news outlet reported that residents are risking their lives to travel along a dangerous road to fetch food, with some writing on walls "there is no food here, we are dying of hunger." A former resident, Kseniya Arkhipova, stated that people are eating what they managed to grow in their gardens and that some are dying of starvation. The report described the city as being in agony, with abandoned corpses in the streets. No humanitarian convoys have reached Oleshky since May 2026, and the nearest town, Radensk, is connected by a single mine-laden road, known as the "road of death." A food convoy attempted to reach Oleshky on September 1 but was bombed, with drivers forced to abandon their vehicles. Both Ukrainian and Russian forces accused each other of carrying out the attack.