"What is not destroyed is mined, people are kidnapped and not returned": what is known about life in occupied Oleska

How Ukrainians in Oleshka continue to live in conditions of war, occupation and humanitarian crisis - said Tetjana Gasanenko, head of the city military administration of the city of Oleshka, in an interview for the Radio Liberty project "News from Azov".

According to officials, some settlements of the Oleshki community have literally disappeared from the map of Ukraine. The villages of Pidstepne, Piščanivka, Zaplava, as well as the town of Oleški suffered the greatest destruction. The situation is particularly critical in the Cossack settlements, Podlisno and Solonci. Krinik, where about a thousand people lived before the war, is now completely destroyed - there is not a single preserved building there. The situation in the villages of Kostogrizovo, Radinske and Čelburda, which are further from the front line, can be called more or less stable, said Gasanenko.

 

"No shelling - no hope"

 

She says that getting any information from the occupied territory is increasingly difficult. People are afraid to communicate for reasons of their own safety, and problems in communication and electricity supply only complicate the situation.

Humanitarian aid or some social benefits are brought to the village of Radenska. But that happens very rarely.

"That is, residents have to go either to the city of Skadovsk, or to the villages of the community of Skadovsk - Zalizni port, in order to receive some payments. Moreover, it does not mean that if someone managed to pass through a dangerous road, under drones, he will reach his destination and receive some kind of assistance, social payments or pension that day. "Workers of the occupying power can simply announce the threat of a missile attack, turn off the system and not work for the whole day," says Gasanenko.

 

"Without water, gas and electricity"

 

For more than a year, there has been no electricity and gas supply in many settlements of the community, and after the destruction of the Kahovska HPP, the water supply system does not work either.

 

"The problem is charging a mobile phone or having a connection even with relatives, not to mention the authorities. Therefore, information is becoming more and more limited," Gasanenko points out.

 

According to her, the most difficult period in the occupation is when the forces of the Russian occupiers rotate.

"Each new unit that comes to the territory of the community tries to steal something, destroy, move into those apartments or houses that have not yet been moved into. They mock, take away, kill. For them, the life of any human or animal has no value. Well, according to the residents themselves, it is difficult when there is no shelling. Because all these shellings give hope that the territory will be liberated," Gasanenko points out.

 

"Drone attacks on people"

 

Humanitarian aid is practically unavailable to the residents of Oleški. Sometimes there are provocations that end in death.

"It was announced that the occupiers will bring humanitarian aid to the city of Oleška. On December 6, people gathered on the territory of the village in the night and early morning to receive this humanitarian aid. But in reality, a drone attack was taking place, people were killed and wounded," emphasizes Gasanenko.

 

He highlights the example of water supply where, before the invasion of Oleški, a Cossack town, Krinka had a centralized water supply. It is currently completely destroyed. In other villages, people used private wells, and some still use them today. But it is extremely difficult to talk about the quality of this water, because no one assesses its sanitary condition.

At dawn on June 6, 2023, it became known about the partial destruction of the Kahovskaja hydroelectric power plant. The Ukrainian authorities blamed the Russian occupation forces for the undermining, which occupied, mined and controlled the hydroelectric power plant from February 24, 2022. The Russian occupation administration, on the other hand, claimed that the armed forces fired at the Kahovskaya bridge at night and damaged it. Many experts say that the collapse of the dam was most likely caused by the placement of a large amount of explosives at the HPP, which was controlled by Russian troops.

According to Gasanenko, only two settlements in Oleška - Radenska and Kostogrizovo - are supplied with electricity. These are the villages furthest from the battle line.

"People are trying to install batteries to charge mobile phones, to have a connection, to share with neighbors who don't have one. They try to support each other in these terrible conditions of occupation. We know that the infrastructure is almost completely destroyed. The one that was not destroyed was either mined or will be mined if the occupiers leave this territory. They will definitely do it, because their task is to destroy everything," Gasanenko claims.

 

Only a few shops operate on the territory of the municipality. The market that worked before the invasion no longer works - it was completely destroyed. There are also several pharmacies, but the quality of domestic medicines is unsatisfactory.

"The procurement process of medicines and products affects the price level. "Everything that is sold in Oleška is priced too high, even compared to the temporarily occupied Kalančak, Skadovska and other communities," she points out.  

 

"No more than 7,000 people live there"

 

The community mostly consists of elderly and less mobile people who are unable to leave and those who take care of them.

"The number of residents of the Oleški community has decreased significantly. Because before the complete invasion, about 40,000 people lived there. After the first year of occupation, we calculated that there were about 16,000 inhabitants left on the territory of the community. But after the Kahovska HPP was blown up, I don't think there were more than 7,000 people left in the territory of the community. About 3,000 to 4,000 of them are residents of the city itself. But I emphasize that these figures are quite tentative," says Gasanenko.

There is no economic activity on the territory of the community, as all businesses have been destroyed or looted.

"There is only wasteland in place of the former companies. Therefore, it is impossible to talk about any economic activity. Some utility companies registered by the occupier are working. "Everything in the city is overgrown with grass, everything is destroyed, there is a lot of garbage after the floods, so the situation is extremely difficult," describes Gasanenko.

There is one hospital in the community, however, services can only be obtained there with a Russian passport, and ambulances and rescuers do not respond to emergency calls. In order to carry out some operational interventions, it is necessary to contact Kalanchak, Skadovsk, or even go to Simferopol. It is necessary to have a health insurance policy of the Russian Federation. There is no mention of an emergency medical service at all - it is dangerous to move there, so of course no one goes out on the calls. If someone, God forbid, needs medical help, let them go directly to the hospital alone. There are very few doctors, many of them have gone to the territory controlled by Ukraine.

 

Education and return to work

 

During the occupation, the Russian authorities failed to open a single educational institution on the territory of the community. Tatjana Gasanenko is convinced that this shows the patriotic spirit of local teachers who did not agree to work according to the Russian program.

"The occupiers tried to start some schools, but they failed. Of course, children who want to study have the opportunity to study in a Ukrainian school online. We have four such schools, where more than 1,700 students study, although before the war there were almost 4,500 students. "Some children and parents who currently live in the territory under the control of Ukraine decided to attend institutions where they were registered as internally displaced persons," says Gasanenko.

She pointed out that she knows about the attempts of Ukrainians to return to the occupied territories after living in free Ukrainian territory. She spoke about the reasons for such decisions and actions.

"We cannot talk about people necessarily returning there to permanent residence. Some go for a short period of time, some need help with the transfer of less mobile relatives, some need to solve problems with real estate. Since there are periodic announcements by the occupying authorities that they are seizing apartments and houses. If the owners do not show up, the occupation authorities register them as "communal" property in order to sell them later," says Gasanenko.

According to the official, the occupation authorities do not support attempts by people who have been in the territory controlled by Ukraine for a long time or lived abroad to return to the occupied territories.

"Everyone knows that such a filtration point was made in "Sheremetyevo" in Moscow, where the so-called filtration is carried out. "Sometimes this filtering lasts for hours, it can even last a day, for example, when people are asked a lot of questions or they can be refused entry without a single question and without a single answer," she says.

 

"There is already an action plan after de-occupation"

 

GHasanenko claims that the occupying power does not prevent the oppression of the local population, but only encourages it: it filters, conducts searches, checks mobile phones.

2 There are facts about the kidnapping of our residents. And I tend to think that we don't even know all the facts, because we record them in the same way, transfer them to the competent authorities. "It is very difficult to bring back people who have disappeared, even if we take into account that international volunteer organizations deal with it," Gasanenko points out.

However, despite the pressure of the occupation authorities, there are still people in the community who always show their Ukrainian position, she emphasizes.

"I am extremely proud that there are such residents in the Oleškiv Territorial Community. I clearly understand that the authorities will properly recognize them after de-occupation. I am grateful to those who, despite being under occupation for the third year, still support our Ukrainian values and remain steadfast, I wish them courage. But, on the other hand, I want these people to always think first of all about their life, which is the most valuable and the most expensive. And whenever it was possible, they tried to leave the territory that is under constant shelling," Gasanenko's message was.

 

The authorities already have an action plan after the de-occupation of the community. According to her, such a plan exists in every community on the Left Bank, which is currently under the control of the Russian Federation. In her opinion, this testifies to the readiness of the local authorities for de-occupation processes. This is a step-by-step plan from the first day of the liberation of the territory - from the installation of protective facilities to the points for the delivery of humanitarian aid.