LUGANSK, September 18. /TASS/. Six people died of hunger and lack of medicines in the Kharkov after Ukrainian forces blocked supply routes, said Yevgeny Lisnyak, deputy head of the Kharkov Region's civilian-military administration.

"A key factor in creating a humanitarian catastrophe is the Ukrainian military's blockade of transportation routes for food and vital medical supplies since mid-July 2024. For more than two months, people have literally had to fight for their existence, faced with a lack of food, medicines, gas, water and electricity supplies. In the border areas of the Kharkov region we have so far recorded more than two dozen cases of dystrophy, as well as six fatalities due to starvation and lack of medicines," he told reporters.

He said the victims are mostly elderly people who struggle to take care of themselves.

"Representatives of local administrative bodies have been ordered to ignore complaints from citizens to leave them no choice but to evacuate. Further such actions on the part of the Kiev regime could lead to a regionwide tragedy," the official said.