Oleshky: How Russia Governs Through Humanitarian Decline - Institute for the Study of War

The ongoing humanitarian crisis in the occupied Oleshky area reflects the coercive logic of Russian occupation governance in a heavily damaged frontline city. Oleshky has become a test case for Russian rule in an area marked by depopulation, damaged infrastructure, chronic insecurity, and growing isolation from the rest of Ukraine. Rather than reversing these conditions, Russian occupation authorities appear to govern through them, leveraging residents’ increasing dependence on occupation-controlled services, institutions, and administrative systems to sustain control. As humanitarian vulnerabilities deepen and alternatives to occupation governance diminish, humanitarian decline and Russian occupation rule become mutually reinforcing.