On 1 October the European Union alerted the OSCE to the situation in occupied Oleszki. Up to 6,000 civilians, including over 180 children, stay in the front towns of the Kherson region. Lacks of food and drugs and roads threatened by mines and drones show the human price of Russian occupation.
EU provides data on Oleszki
European Union a message submitted to the OSCE on 1 October described the situation in Oleszki as peculiarly alarming. The city lies in the occupied part of the Kherson circuit, close to the front line. According to the Ukrainian authorities, up to 6,000 civilians may stay in the localities of the area, including Oleszki. Over 180 of them are children.
Brussels referred to the findings of the United Nations Monitoring Mission on Human Rights in Ukraine and the Bureau of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the OSCE. The reports from these institutions talk about severe food shortages and medical assistance. Residents for long periods stay powerless, moving water and heating. Interia besides describes the deficiency of gas and cases of soup preparation from weeds.
Mines and drones close the escape routes
UN mission message of 25 June It was based on talks with more than 20 local residents at the front. It indicates that frequent drone attacks and the presence of mines impede the evacuation and transportation of basic products. The UN has not attributed all these attacks to 1 side.
Certificates collected by ODIHR besides indicate that Russian forces were to prevent residents from leaving Oleszek. It's an crucial distinction. Under war conditions, any peculiar attack requires a solid determination of the perpetrator, but the duties of the occupying force are not subject to propaganda negotiations. Russia is liable for the protection of civilians in its controlled territory and for allowing humanitarian aid.
Russian communications blame the Ukrainian side. This does not change the fact that global institutions describe the crisis in an area under Russian occupation. Moscow is trying to shift responsibility, although it is her troops who exercise real control there. The European Union has called on Russia to respect humanitarian law, to guarantee safe access for aid organisations and to supply food and medicines.
The business strikes the foundations of life
Oleszki shows that the war against civilians does not gotta take the form of 1 spectacular strike. Just cut off roads, paralyzed evacuation and long-term deficiency of supplies. A akin logic of force can be seen in Russian strokes into the Chersonia energy system. A man with no power, no water, no heating and no medicine becomes a hostage to the occupier.
In parallel Russia tries to give its presence a appearance of legality. Forecasts Organisation of fictional elections in occupied areas service the same purpose: cover administrative force with decoration. Voting is not free where a civilian cannot safely leave or receive basic assistance.
For Poland the stake is direct. Oleszki lies far from our border, but the Russian method is well known in Central and east Europe: first strength, then isolation, propaganda and an effort to tame the planet with its lawlessness. Warsaw should request humanitarian corridors, access to independent organisations and settlement of infringements. Helping civilians is not an ideological gesture. It's a defence of the rule that the occupier can't unpunishedly turn hunger and deficiency of drugs into a tool of war.
Source: European External Action Service, United Nations Human Rights reflection Mission in Ukraine, Interia Events
Source: Interia Events
