European Parliament Vice President Pina Picierno has declared a hunger strike on Tuesday, Oct. 20 in protest over the humanitarian catastrophe Russia’s occupation has created in Oleshky, where thousands of civilians have been facing starvation for months.
Picierno, who also leads Spazio Pubblico – a reformist, pro-European Italian political movement, announced the strike in an interview with Italian newspaper La Repubblica. She said it was a response to Pope Leo XIV’s appeal for a truce in the town, located in the Kherson region, and hoped other leaders would join her.
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“Words are not enough, we must also put our bodies on the line to save the Ukrainians of Oleshky,” Picierno told La Repubblica, calling the fast “a gesture of anger and hope.”
Responding to growing calls in Italy for fewer weapons deliveries to Ukraine and increased diplomacy, she described her hunger strike as a “diplomatic and nonviolent initiative,” adding that “diplomacy without defense has another name: surrender.”
Residents cut off for months
Oleshky is located on the left bank of the Dnipro River in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region, roughly 5 km (3 miles) southeast of Kherson city. It has been under Russian occupation since the opening days of the full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Picierno called the town a symbol “of the inhumanity of the murderer who sits in the Kremlin,” pointing to Russian President Vladimir Putin who, according to senior Ukrainian authorities, recently ordered Russia’s military to abandon previous constraints and intensify attacks on civilian sites.
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According to her estimates, roughly 1,700 people remain in the city from a prewar population of 24,000, including 47 children.
Her figure matches that of Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha but differs from the estimates of Dmytro Lubinets, Ukrainian parliament commissioner for human rights, who has said about 6,000 people, including some 200 children, remain across Oleshky and the surrounding settlements. In his view, up to 2,000 people could remain in Oleshky itself.
However, neither figure could be independently verified, particularly because Russian occupation authorities narrowly restrict access to information from the area.
What we do know is that the town’s residents hadn’t received any food or medicine deliveries for months, forcing some to to barter for basic goods. Tetiana Hasanenko, head of the Oleshky City Military Administration, said on July 10 that no vehicles had entered or left the town since May 26.
The town’s only pharmacy has also reportedly ran out of essential medications months ago, while overall medical care has been significantly complicated due to power cuts and lack of fuel as the city remains isolated.
Residents also cannot access their bank accounts nor withdraw cash as that would require leaving the town – which is nearly impossible.
“Those who stay risk starving to death; those who try to flee risk stepping on a mine,” Picierno said, echoing previous warnings of Ukrainian authorities who have been appealing to international organizations for months to help secure an evacuation corridor for the town and provide much needed additional humanitarian access.
“Families are starving, surviving on leftover garden vegetables, canned goods, and even snails. Residents say that Russian soldiers have threatened them at gunpoint to seize their food,” Sybiha said.
In a statement on Sept. 16, Lubinets said that the residents had started escaping on foot independently across mined fields and under threat of constant Russian drone attacks, simply because they saw no other way out.
“They see no other way to escape this hell,” Lubinets said, adding that his office had received 176 appeals regarding the humanitarian situation in Oleshky, and had already verified at least 358 people who urgently need assistance to leave safely.
Pope spoke to Putin and Zelensky
Pope Leo XIV held a telephone discussion with Putin on Oct. 16, in what marked the second phone call between the two, following their first conversation on June 4, 2025 that also focused on the war in Ukraine.
The pope had expressed his deep concern about the humanitarian situation in Oleshky, urging the Russian president to agree to an immediate ceasefire and allow the delivery of food and medical assistance to the city.
He also called for a safe evacuation of the civilians.
While the Kremlin backed Vatican’s initiative and agreed to cooperate, it again pinned the blame for the crisis on Ukraine, despite Kyiv’s repeated appeals to Russian authorities and international partners to secure humanitarian access to the town.
The pontiff then spoke to President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday, Oct. 19, reiterating his earlier request for a humanitarian ceasefire. He expressed hope for a cooperation between Kyiv and Moscow which would allow for the desperately needed food and medical supplies to reach trapped civilians.
“We are working to help our people there. We are preparing decisions,” Zelensky said, confirming the conversation.
Evacuation talks finally move forward
As of Oct. 19, Kyiv and Moscow are now in daily contact over a possible evacuation, Lubinets told Espreso TV, confirming that the Russian side had taken up all proposals previously submitted by Ukraine.
“I cannot disclose many details, but I will say this: In my view, we have made significant progress,” Lubinets said, while acknowledging that difficult issues remain.
No evacuation date has so far been announced.
Picierno urged that the talks be concluded without further delay. “The negotiation must be closed immediately,” she said, “food and medicine must be let in, and those who want to leave must be let out.”