Ukraine's National Guard used drones to deliver humanitarian packages to families with children in the Russian-occupied town of Oleshky in the Kherson region, according to an October 25 statement from Ukraine's Interior Ministry. The ministry said the aid weighed more than 600 kilograms in total.
The operation was carried out by members of the Bolharychi special operations company of the National Guard's 11th Brigade. According to the ministry, the delivery took place on October 24.
Interior Minister Ivan Vyhivskyi said 15 packages were sent. They contained breakfast cereals, milk, educational games and toys.
Vyhivskyi noted that some of the children living in the isolated town were born after the start of the full-scale war. Residents' access to regular food and medical supplies has been severely restricted by the fighting and limitations on movement.
Oleshky lies on the left bank of the Dnipro River and has been controlled by Russian forces since 2022. The humanitarian situation has deteriorated amid difficulties accessing food, medicine and safe evacuation routes.
Ukrainian and Russian representatives previously announced agreements on a local ceasefire intended to allow a humanitarian operation. According to statements by the parties involved, American mediators helped facilitate the arrangements.
The drone deliveries constituted a separate operation reported by Ukraine's Interior Ministry. They do not, by themselves, mean that the agreed ceasefire had already taken effect or that all obstacles to humanitarian organizations' work had been removed.
The official Interior Ministry statement confirms that the ministry reported sending and delivering the aid. There is not yet independent evidence that each of the 15 packages was handed over to its intended recipients.