Pope Leo XIV and the international community are being asked to help thousands of people at risk of starvation in the Ukrainian city of Oleshky.

In a statement last month The Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations (UCCRO) appealed to the Pope, World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) and the World Council of Churches (WCC) to intervene in what they say is a “humanitarian catastrophe” in Oleshky in the Kherson Oblast of Ukraine.

Oleshky has been under Russian occupation since 2022. Before the war it had a population of around one million people.  The region sits just north of Crimea. It gives Russia a land bridge to the peninsula and also controls access to the Black Sea, so whoever holds it shapes the threat to Ukraine's southern ports, including Odesa.

The threat to mass starvation is real.  Under the Russian blockade food is now unable to get into the region. In a statement the UCCRO said:

"The last food supplies were delivered to the area at the end of May 2026. As a result, residents are starving, while Russian forces are preventing them from leaving the city."

The UCCRO say they are working with Ukrainian authorities and international organisations to alleviate the suffering in Oleshky and claim Russia is exploiting the situation for propaganda purposes.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov admitted the situation in the region was 'critical' in a report last month but said Russian troops were continuing to work to resolve it. It blames Ukrainian strikes for blocking aid. 

As well as the Pontiff the UCCRO has also called upon UN Member States and the International Committee of the Red Cross to press a humanitarian mission aimed at evacuating residents to Ukrainian government-controlled territory.