Calgary’s Ukrainian community is calling for humanitarian action for civilians trapped in occupied Oleshky. It’s estimated 2,000 people remain in the city which is located in the Kherson region and under Russian occupation. The last food delivery was in May and people have been growing vegetables to survive. Those gathered in Calgary want increased pressure on Russia to allow a humanitarian corridor to deliver food and medicine in addition to letting them leave. “It’s extremely difficult to evacuate people from Oleshky because Russian drones chase people, chase cars, and also the roads and fields around Oleshky and neighbouring neighbourhoods are mined,” said Anna Tselukhina, the president of the Calgary chapter of the Ukraine Canadian Congress. “So it’s deadly dangerous to try to escape (from) there.” They also want international humanitarian organizations to be allowed in to provide aid. The situation is drawing comparisons to Holodomor, a man-made famine in Ukraine in 1932 to 1933, which is considered one of the darkest chapters in Ukrainian history. “In November we will talk about Holodomor in many different cities in Canada,” said Tselukhina. “I know that Canadian citizens know about Holodomor in Ukraine 100 years ago, and it looks like the same situation is going on in Oleshky (today). “(It’s a) Holodomor in 21st century, and Russia continues to use hunger as a weapon.”
