European Parliament Vice-President Picerno has gone on hunger strike in protest at humanitarian crisis in Oleshky
Pina Picerno, Vice-President of the European Parliament, has gone on a hunger strike to draw international attention to the humanitarian crisis in the occupied town of Oleshky in the Kherson region. She is calling for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.
Picherno wrote about this on her page on the social media platform X, according to Censor.NET.
Statement by the politician
According to Picerno, in Oleshky, which has been occupied by the Russian army, thousands of people have been trapped without regular access to food and medicine. She points out that the mined areas make escape extremely dangerous: those who stay risk dying of starvation, whilst those who try to leave risk their lives.
"To draw international attention to this emergency, I have gone on hunger strike. But this struggle cannot be mine alone," she wrote.
The politician called on civil society organisations, ordinary citizens and national and local institutions to join this "major non-violent campaign". According to her, we must demand:
- an immediate humanitarian ceasefire;
- deliveries of food and medicines within the city;
- the possibility of safely evacuating civilians who wish to leave.
You can take part in the campaign via the special page.
Picherno writes that, with this move, he wishes to support the actions of Pope Leo XIV and all those who "are doing everything possible at this time to avert a humanitarian tragedy on a massive scale".
"The people of Oleshky must not be left to fend for themselves. The time has come to act together so that diplomacy yields concrete results and no one is left to die in silence", she added.
Humanitarian disaster in Oleshky
- At the end of March 2026, Dmytro Lubinets, the Verkhovna Rada’s Commissioner for Human Rights, appealed to the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Russian side regarding the humanitarian disaster in the occupied town of Oleshky in the Kherson region.
- It is known that around 2,000 civilians remain cut off from the outside world in the occupied town of Oleshky.
- The Regional Military Administration also reported that the bodies of the deceased have remained unburied for weeks, and that the logistics infrastructure has been completely destroyed – the occupied town of Oleshky in the Kherson region is under a complete humanitarian blockade.
- The International Committee of the Red Cross is trying to obtain information about the situation in the occupied town of Oleshky in the Kherson region.
- Ombudsman Lubinets stated that the residents of Oleshky are being prepared for evacuation.
- Earlier, Tetiana Hasanenko, head of the Oleshky City Military Administration, reported that in the occupied town of Oleshky in the Kherson region, people are starving due to a lack of supplies, and some families have already started eating dogs.
- At the end of September 2026, drones were used to deliver around 4,000 kg of food to 100 locations across the city.
- According to Ukrainian intelligence, Russia is producing staged videos in Oleshky. Local residents will be forced to say on camera that they are happy, well-fed and grateful to the Russian occupiers.
