2,000 Ukrainians Trapped in 'Road of Death' City - Starving, Mined, Surrounded

Oleshky is suffocating. Roughly 2,000 civilians remain in this southern Ukrainian frontline city, cut off from fresh food and medicine for months while caught in a living nightmare between Russian occupation and Ukrainian forces across the river.

The choice facing residents is nightmarish: stay and slowly starve, or attempt escape along what locals have named “The Road of Death” - a minefield highway strewn with burnt-out vehicles and buried explosives.

“The road is mined. So we’re stuck here,” says Ludmilla, speaking from a fire-damaged rooftop. “People are trying their best to survive.”

Oleshky has been imprisoned by geography and war since Russia’s full-scale invasion began. A destroyed river crossing traps it to the north, while Russian occupation forces control the city from the east bank of the Dnipro. Ukrainian troops wait on the opposite bank, just outside Kherson, which Ukrainian forces recaptured in November 2022.

The humanitarian catastrophe is staggering. Ukraine’s human rights commissioner has declared a full “humanitarian crisis” unfolding. Residents survive on pasta and tinned goods scavenged from abandoned neighbours’ homes. Elderly people gather in city squares when volunteers manage rare food deliveries - a dangerous relief when prices are astronomical.

The satellite evidence is damning. BBC analysis shows at least eight damaged vehicles on a single 1km stretch of road heading toward Hola Prystan’. A massive scorch mark appeared on the highway in late January, consistent with vehicles detonating on mines or being struck by drones.

Volodymyr, in his 50s, finally escaped but describes witnessing hell. “The entire highway from Oleshky to Hola Prystan’ is littered with burnt-out cars. Some of them burned with people still inside.” He was evacuated via ambulance arranged by volunteers, terrorised by drones and traumatised by watching his neighbour’s body carted away after shelling.

Inside the city, Russian soldiers hide in basements, hunted by Ukrainian drones. Bodies lie uncollected for days. The Kakhovka Dam destruction in June 2023 devastated what remained - Ludmilla lost her own home in the catastrophic flooding that followed.

Ukraine’s Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets, has demanded a humanitarian corridor from Russian authorities, accusing Russia of inflicting “deliberate terrorism” against civilians. Russia’s London Embassy counters that Ukrainian strikes caused the destruction.

The International Red Cross is negotiating with both sides. But for the 2,000 trapped inside Oleshky, every day is a gamble between starvation and annihilation.