Between 10 and 12 civilians escaped the Russian-occupied Ukrainian city of Oleshky in September via a secret route threading through a minefield, Tetiana Hasanenko, head of the city's military administration, has revealed. The escapees walked 23 to 25 kilometers toward the village of Radensk. But after Russian forces discovered the route, they re-mined it — and for the past three to four days, Hasanenko said, not even leaving on foot has been possible; those who tried to flee on their own have died. Oleshky has been under a severe humanitarian blockade since this spring, with some 2,000 residents cut off from the outside world for more than four months.
Hasanenko disclosed the figure in an interview with Ukraine's Novyny.LIVE. She said the escape route crossed a Russian-laid minefield toward Radensk, and 10 to 12 people used it during September. An escapee named Sergiy told AFP he walked more than 21 kilometers in mid-September to reach Radensk — which, AFP notes, is itself under Russian occupation, so the fugitives were still far from safety. Accounts differ on whether the escapees reached Ukrainian-controlled territory, so this article sticks to the original wording of officials and witnesses.
According to Hasanenko, Russian forces re-mined the corridor once they learned of the civilian escape route: "for the last three to four days, it has been impossible to leave even on foot," and those who attempted it died. Al Jazeera quoted her stark description of conditions inside the city: "No flour, no meat, no oil, no sugar, no salt, nothing." She accused Russian forces of using civilians as "human shields." Just recently, two civilians were killed and two wounded by an explosion while heading to Radensk to collect food; the wounded were brought back into the city on a wheelbarrow and bicycles.
Oleshky had more than 24,000 residents before the war; roughly 2,000 remain in the city, and the wider community including surrounding villages holds about 6,000 people, 180 of them children. The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine reports at least 29 civilians killed and 54 injured there this year, with the last grocery store ceasing normal operations in January. On September 23, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha told the UN Security Council that Russia must open a humanitarian corridor, likening the famine risk to the Holodomor of 1932–33; on September 27, Ukrainian forces air-dropped about four tons of food to 100 drop points inside the city by drone. Russia blames Kyiv: Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov acknowledged "real" food and medicine supply problems but blamed Ukrainian obstruction, while Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Ukrainian attacks had cut off Russian aid.