Ukraine: WFP provides hot meals to Oleshky evacuees as UN pushes to restore power before winter

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) is providing emergency food assistance to more than 400 people who were able to leave the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky, in Ukraine’s Kherson region, during a brief local ceasefire. Many arrived in worrying condition at medical facilities in Kyiv on 31 October after being trapped by fighting, enduring months of severe shortages of food, medical supplies and other basic necessities, the agency said late on Sunday. Working with its national partner Iskra Dobra – a Ukrainian humanitarian NGO – WFP provided hot meals to evacuees as soon as they arrived and will continue to do so for an initial two weeks. More evacuees are expected and the agency “stands ready to scale up its assistance”. The emergency food assistance is funded by the United States. “For people who have endured months of fear, isolation and deprivation, this humanitarian pause offers something very simple but incredibly important: a chance to reach safety and receive the help they need,” said WFP Executive Director Luke J. Lindberg. He recognised the role of the US First Lady Melania Trump in helping to broker the ceasefire and expressed hope that it could open the door to sustained ...