"Two more civilians died last night," says Halia, before her phone connection cuts off. She is trapped in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian city of Oleshky, which she says is "constantly shelled" and cut off from food and water. Three days later she tells me the two who were killed were a husband and wife.
They were bringing home a bag of food from the closest neighbouring town of Radensk, 23km (14 miles) away, but were unable to get home before a curfew imposed by Russian occupation authorities. They were then killed by a drone. Four separate sources have confirmed the deaths of two civilians carrying food on 20 September.
Halia does not want to share their names for fear she might be identified. Her name has been changed to protect her safety. Hers is just one of the many harrowing accounts the BBC has heard from residents in the front-line city in southern Kherson in recent days.
Occupied by Russia since 2022, Oleshky is trapped between the Dnipro River, which separates it from Ukrainian positions, and Russian forces. It is also one of the cities where thousands of people lost their homes after the collapse of Nova Khakova Dam in 2023, flooding buildings up to their rooftops. Ukraine and Nato accused Russia of blowing up the dam, while Russia blamed Ukraine.
Oleshky was home to 24,000 people before Russia's full-scale invasion. Now the Ukrainian government estimates that some 6,000 people remain in the city and its surrounding areas, including 200 children. Residents say children remaining in wider Oleshky are suffering from malnutrition, a lack of medical services, and are "degrading" without access to education.
Many have also told the BBC independently there is only one hospital partially operational, opening a few days a week to perform critical amputations. Ukraine has attempted to deliver supplies to the area but has not had success in recent months. To stay or risk the 'Road of Death' - Ukrainian civilians trapped in frontline city Earlier this week the Kremlin acknowledged that Oleshky faced "a critical situation" and "problems with supplies of food and medicine", but added that "Russia's military was working to resolve them" and blamed Kyiv.
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