In occupied Oleshky, bodies of those killed are taken to Kalanchak and not returned
In occupied Oleshky, Kherson Oblast, the Russian administration has changed the burial procedure for the dead. The bodies of people killed by shelling or mine explosions are now being taken to Kalanchak, allegedly for examination.
Censor.NET reports this. Tetiana Hasanenko, head of the Oleshky City Military Administration, told journalists about the situation.
Relatives wait months for bodies to be returned
According to Hasanenko, the occupiers explain the removal of bodies by the need to document the so-called "crimes of Ukraine’s Armed Forces." At the same time, many bodies are never returned to relatives for burial.
"There are bodies that were taken to Kalanchak three months ago, four months ago, and they have not been returned to relatives. In other words, even for a body, this is a one-way road," she said.
According to her, the situation worsened after a distinctive odor from the dead began spreading from one of the local hospital buildings where the deceased and those killed had been temporarily stored.
Mother told her son was buried in an unknown location
The head of the city military administration cited the example of an Oleshky resident who had waited several months for the body of her dead son to be returned.
Later, the woman was told that he had already been buried, but they could not even name the exact burial place. According to Hasanenko, it was a settlement called Dobropillia or Dobrosillia, but the family never received confirmed information.
The man’s body had been in Kalanchak from December to May, after which he was buried without his relatives present.
The dead are taken to the cemetery on wheelbarrows
For people who die of natural causes, the local hospital issues burial documents. However, due to the lack of transport in the city, relatives have to take the bodies to the cemetery themselves.
According to Hasanenko, two people transport a body on a wheelbarrow to graves dug in advance, which have remained at the cemetery since autumn.
The city lacks medicines and food
The head of the Oleshky City Military Administration also said that only a few doctors, mostly older ones, remain working at the local hospital.
Despite the difficult conditions, inpatients are still receiving food, but supplies of medicines and food to the occupied and effectively blocked city remain limited.
