Oleshky

Oleshky is a city in southern Ukraine, in Kherson Raion of Kherson Oblast, on the left bank of the Dnieper River with the town of Solontsi lying to its south. It is described as the oldest city of its oblast and one of the oldest in southern Ukraine, and it was called Tsiurupynsk from 1928 to 2016. The city lies beside the Oleshky Sands, a large desert region that is unusual in this part of Europe. It is the site of the home of the artist Polina Rayko, a national cultural monument of Ukraine, and it hosts the administration of the Oleshky urban hromada. The 2022 population estimate was 24,124, but the city has been occupied by Russia since 2022 and its population has fallen sharply, with only around 2,000 people estimated to remain.