‘Hell on earth’: last residents eat weeds to survive in Russian-occupied Oleshky

Supplies cut off from Ukrainian city where bodies are being left to be eaten by dogs because of deadly risk from drones

The phone message sent out of Russian-occupied Oleshky was grimly matter of fact: food for the 2,000 or so civilians still remaining in the city and its surrounding villages had finally run out.

“We’re in Oleshky [and] we can’t get out. We’re going hungry … Right now, I’ve got absolutely nothing to eat,” read the message, from a woman in the besieged city, who was waiting to be evacuated by the occupying forces.