Ukrainian National Guard operators have deployed unmanned aerial vehicles to deliver over 600 kilograms of humanitarian aid, infant food, and toys to families trapped in the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky, Minister of Internal Affairs Ivan Vyhivskyi announced on Sunday, Oct. 25.
The aerial resupply mission was executed by service members of the “Bolharychi” special purpose company, a subordinate unit of the 11th Mykhailo Hrushevskyi Brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine, state news agency Ukrinform reported.
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Writing on Facebook, Vyhivskyi confirmed that unmanned aerial platforms transported 15 individual cargo containers across contested airspace into the isolated Dnipro left-bank enclave in the southern Kherson region.
“Despite the Russian occupation and the severe conditions confronting the residents of Kherson region, our units continue to support the people,” Vyhivskyi stated in an official dispatch.
Critical aid shipments
The delivered cargo focused primarily on life-sustaining supplies for households with young children facing acute shortages of infant nutrition and basic necessities.
According to the internal affairs minister, the 15 airdropped consignments contained baby milk formula, breakfast cereals, dried foods, developmental games, and toys for infants and toddlers isolated under military occupation.
“Among the children who remain in blocked Oleshky are those born during the full-scale war who have known no life without terror,” Vyhivskyi said.
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“We support these families and deliver essential basic goods to them.”
Vyhivskyi expressed formal gratitude to the volunteer logistics networks that assembled the care packages, the drone operators who navigated contested electronic warfare corridors, the armed detachments providing fire cover, and local contacts on the ground who risked their lives to recover and distribute the supplies within the occupied perimeter.
Humanitarian crisis in the left-bank enclave
The drone delivery underscores the desperate conditions in Oleshky, situated approximately five kilometers southeast of liberated Kherson on the east bank of the Dnipro River.
The municipality has remained under Russian military control since the opening days of the full-scale invasion in February 2022 and has been entirely severed from authorized overland cargo deliveries and international humanitarian missions since late May.
Roughly 1,700 civilians remain trapped in the municipal center amid destroyed municipal heating networks, severed running water, and intermittent electrical supply ahead of freezing winter temperatures.
Ukrainian officials have repeatedly described the municipality as under virtual siege, noting that exit roads and river transit points are heavily mined and subjected to continuous loitering drone reconnaissance.
Ukrainian defense units have intermittently utilized heavy multi-rotor transport drones to air-drop rations and pharmaceuticals into residential yards as diplomatic negotiations to secure an overland corridor continue.
Pending localized ceasefire
The aerial relief mission coincides with preparations for a synchronized, localized ceasefire framework scheduled to take effect across Oleshky on Tuesday, Oct. 27, at 3:00 a.m. Kyiv time (4:00 a.m. Moscow time).
Finalized during bilateral consultations between Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets and Russian negotiating lead Yana Lantratova – mediated with assistance from US First Lady Melania Trump – the framework establishes a phased humanitarian operation to deliver larger medical and food consignments and begin civilian evacuations.
President Volodymyr Zelensky affirmed that Kyiv will adhere strictly to operational commitments to unblock the city, emphasizing that opening humanitarian access to Oleshky remains vital to preventing catastrophic civilian loss ahead of winter.
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