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With the flood waters from the destroyed Nova Kakhovka dam rising around them, residents of Russian-occupied Oleshky, Ukraine, knew they had to get out of there.
Quickly.
They gathered what personal belongings they could and hopped into cars to head for higher ground.
But when they got to a checkpoint, Russian soldiers told them: “Haven’t you been waiting it out, hoping for Ukraine to come back? Go back and wait some more.”
The dam was destroyed in the early morning of June 6, and by that afternoon, occupation authorities cut the town off. Russian forces had essentially locked people inside the flood zone. Nobody was allowed out.
And nobody was allowed in, either. Volunteers came to help Oleshky’s residents, but Russian soldiers blocked them from entering the town.
One volunteer who tried to enter Oleshky on June 8 described the scene to HRW Senior Researcher Yulia Gorbunova in a heartbreaking new article:
“We told them we were bringing food and water for the people and that we were unarmed. They [Russian soldiers] told us to turn around, drive, and not look back. Then they shot [their guns] in the air for good measure.”
All this was happening as Oleshky, a town on the Dnipro River’s left bank that Russian forces have occupied since April 2022, was ruined. Ninety percent of Oleshky was flooded, with some areas practically disappearing underwater.
Soon, there was no clean water, gas, or electricity. People’s phone batteries were dying, and they had no way of connecting with the outside world. They climbed onto their rooftops, as a few residents with boats started rescuing people.
Russian emergency services were nowhere to be seen. Only a week later did occupation authorities apparently conduct some sporadic evacuations.
Water levels are now falling, but people in Oleshky are still in dire need. Most parts of the town are still without electricity, gas, and clean water. Humanitarian needs will only increase in the coming days and weeks.
Both the International Committee of the Red Cross and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs have said they are standing by to help people on the left (Russian-occupied) bank of the flooded river. All they need is a security guarantee from the Russian authorities.
To date, Russia has not provided that guarantee, so the people of Oleshky – and the entire flood zone under occupation – suffer alone.
