© Alessandra Tarantino/Associated Press
Venezuela’s government dispatched a plane carrying 40 tons of humanitarian aid to Panama on Thursday to help people affected by the magnitude 7.7 earthquake that struck the country on October 9 and caused severe damage to road infrastructure, essential services and thousands of homes in both urban and rural areas.
The cargo includes basic medical supplies, non-perishable food, drinking water, personal hygiene kits and logistical material, intended to support temporary camps set up by Panamanian authorities in regions declared in emergency.
RELATED: Panama Earthquake: 7.7 Magnitude Quake Leaves 26 Injured, No Deaths
The shipment landed on Panamanian soil and was received by personnel from the National Aeronaval Service. From there, the cargo will begin an immediate overland transfer to the local operational centers where responders are coordinating relief efforts in the wake of the seismic crisis.
Diosdado Cabello, Venezuelan Minister of Interior, Justice and Peace, announced the aid shipment, which was described as part of the protocols of solidarity and Central American integration that guide the country’s response to regional emergencies. In this sense, the Venezuelan authorities stressed that “support operations are carried out in direct coordination with civil protection agencies and state security bodies of Panama”.
Tras el reciente terremoto ocurrido en Panamá, Venezuela envió un cargamento de ayuda humanitaria.
— Ministerio de Comunicación e Información (@mippci_ven) October 15, 2026
Reafirmando su compromiso de solidaridad con los pueblos hermanos.
¡Panamá no está sola! 🇻🇪🇵🇦 pic.twitter.com/oMnsQMwdRv
Text reads: “After the recent earthquake in Panama, Venezuela sent a shipment of humanitarian aid, reaffirming their commitment to solidarity with brotherly people. Panama is not alone!”
The cooperation between Caracas and Panama City is designed to accelerate the immediate contingency phase. It also aims to open a clear path toward the physical reconstruction and economic recovery of the residential zones hit hardest by the earthquake.
The shipment complements an earlier deployment of a specialized technical team of more than 50 risk-management and rescue professionals, a delegation that includes experts in assessing critical infrastructure, inspecting damaged buildings, removing debris and restoring basic electricity and water services.
The Venezuelan delegation working on the ground includes experts in evaluating critical infrastructure, inspecting compromised buildings, removing debris and restoring basic energy and water services. Their task is to help stabilize the communities most affected by the quake.
Cabello said the operational experience acquired by Venezuelan brigades during recent seismic events in Venezuelan territory allows them to contribute methodological solutions and strategic interventions in the hardest-hit municipalities.
The Minister framed the effort as part of a permanent bilateral cooperation framework established between the two nations for disaster mitigation across Latin America. Under that framework, the support operations are carried out in direct coordination with Panama’s civil protection agencies and security forces. International organizations are operating in the affected area, and Venezuela has signaled that it will continue working alongside them.
The distribution plan prioritizes the transfer of supplies to rural and island communities whose land routes were cut off by the earthquake. The aim is to guarantee equitable access to medical care and food for vulnerable families.
National Aeronaval Service teams took charge of the cargo upon arrival. The supplies then move by land to the operational centers closest to the communities that suffered the heaviest damage, where distribution can begin without delay, a decision that shortens the distance between the arrival of aid and its delivery to affected families.
Thousands of families in urban and rural communities remain in temporary camps while authorities assess the full extent of the damage. The emergency has tested Panama’s response capacity, and the arrival of additional aid and technical personnel has become a central element of the recovery effort.
Venezuelan authorities said its collection centers and technical monitoring systems remain active to evaluate additional requirements. If Panamanian authorities request more operational support, the response can be scaled up quickly.
For now, the 40 tons of aid and the specialized personnel on the ground represent Venezuela’s immediate contribution to a recovery that is only beginning in the regions hit hardest by the tremor.
People in Russian-occupied Oleshky, a town in southern Ukraine, are running out of food and medicine and have no way out, a local resident told RBC-Ukraine. Ukraine's human rights ombudsman told the outlet that civilians there are dying of hunger every day.
The part of Kherson Oblast across the Dnipro River has been under Russian occupation since 2022, with civilians facing food and medicine shortages and restrictions on leaving. The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine has documented deteriorating conditions in Oleshky and neighboring Hola Prystan. There has been no practical breakthrough toward an organized evacuation, though 358 people who need help to leave Oleshky and nearby settlements have been verified. About 2,000 people remain in Oleshky, Kherson Oblast head Oleksandr Prokudin estimated.
The resident, who spoke anonymously, said food is extremely scarce, and residents are waiting for a humanitarian corridor to leave. The local market offers mostly vegetables and fruit, such as tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, pears, and apples. Russia made its ruble the only legal currency in occupied Kherson Oblast from 1 January 2023, pushing out the Ukrainian hryvnia. Prices at the market start at 500 rubles (about $6), and "if you're lucky, 10 eggs can be bought for 3,000 rubles" (about $36), the resident said. That is about $3.60 an egg, nearly 20 times the US average of about $0.19, or $2.27 a dozen in August, US government data show.
Ukraine's human rights ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, told RBC-Ukraine that civilians in the occupied area were dying every day.
"There is a humanitarian catastrophe there. Ukrainian civilians die there every day because they lack even basic food and water. There have been no medicines there for a long time. According to our information, there is simply hunger there," he said.
The resident said there were practically no medicines available. Expired drugs were being sold at about 100 rubles (about $1.20) a pill. His father has Parkinson's syndrome and has been concussed twice. The resident said he was forced to reduce his father's dose by 25% so the supply would last at least until the new year.
The resident's apartment had burned down, and his house remained damaged. His family had made the house livable and was living there, he said. His wife had lost more than 40 kilograms while the family relied on vegetables and fruit.
Four villages in the Hola Prystan community—Kokhany, Kardashynka, Velyka Kardashynka, and Mala Kardashynka—are effectively blocked, according to the Skhid-SOS fund. The fund told RBC-Ukraine that no transport reaches the villages and no humanitarian aid has been delivered for a prolonged period, although it is difficult to get more information from the villages. Residents are forced to walk or cycle to other settlements to find food, despite the risks of mines and drone strikes.
Lubinets also said Russian troops were using civilians as a buffer and as protection against the Ukrainian military, RBC-Ukraine reported. Because Ukrainian citizens remain in Oleshky, Ukraine cannot conduct active combat operations there, he said—which, in his view, allows Russia to hold civilians effectively as hostages on the front line.
Ukraine has delivered food to Oleshky by drone since March, Prokudin said. Nearly 400 parcels weighing almost 4 tons reached their drop-off points on the night of 4 October, Interior Minister Ivan Vyhivskyi said. How much of the food stays with residents is unclear. Prokudin has said Russian forces shoot down supply drones, confiscate or resell the packages, and detain and beat residents who receive them.
After a previous delivery, Tetiana Hasanenko, head of the Oleshky City Military Administration, said that Russian troops take drone-dropped food and accuse those who receive it of cooperating with Ukraine, and that some residents got several packages while others got none.
Russian forces in occupied Oleshky are taking food parcels delivered by Ukrainian military drones from local residents and treating possession of the supplies as possible evidence of collaboration with Ukraine, according to Tetiana Hasanenko, head of the Oleshky City Military Administration.
Hasanenko said Ukrainian forces had delivered food to the Russian-controlled town by drone on several occasions, but that the latest operation was considerably larger, involving approximately four tonnes of supplies.
In comments published on 30 September, she said some residents managed to collect one or several packages, while others were unable to reach the supplies.
Russian personnel were subsequently taking some of the food from residents, she said.
According to Hasanenko, people found with goods that were not Russian-made were also questioned about where they had obtained them. Residents could then be accused of co-operating with the Armed Forces of Ukraine if Russian personnel concluded that the products had arrived through Ukrainian drone deliveries.
The allegations cannot be independently verified from inside Russian-controlled Oleshky. However, severe food shortages and restrictions on humanitarian access to the town have been independently documented by the United Nations.
The latest operation took place on 27 September and involved Ukrainian military units working with the Kherson regional authorities.
According to the regional administration, heavy drones transported approximately four tonnes of food and medicines to about 100 locations around Oleshky.
Instead of dropping the cargo directly from altitude, packages were lowered on cables to designated locations.
Units involved included the 30th Marine Corps, the 34th Separate Marine Brigade “Borysfen”, National Guard formations and Ukrainian border guards.
Ukrainian authorities say drone deliveries have become one of the few remaining ways of bringing supplies into the town. The Kherson administration said it had been sending food across the Dnipro by drone since March.
It estimates that around 2,000 civilians remain in Oleshky, including almost 50 children.
EU Today reported earlier this month that residents of Oleshky were facing increasingly severe food shortages as conventional supply routes became progressively more difficult to use.
The town lies on the Russian-controlled eastern bank of the Dnipro, opposite Ukrainian-held territory around Kherson. The area is exposed to artillery fire, short-range drone operations and extensive mine contamination.
The humanitarian conditions described by Ukrainian officials are consistent with findings published by the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine.
After interviewing more than 20 residents from Russian-occupied communities near the front line, including Oleshky and Hola Prystan, the mission reported in June that thousands of civilians were facing food shortages and inadequate access to medical assistance.
Residents told UN investigators that the security situation had deteriorated considerably during 2025 and 2026.
The last grocery shop in Oleshky had stopped regular operations in January because supplies had run out, according to testimony collected by the UN. For months, residents depended on preserved food and limited private deliveries.
As of 24 June, the UN said no food deliveries had reached the town since 26 May.
Drone attacks and mines have also made attempts to bring supplies into Oleshky dangerous. On 2 June, a civilian convoy carrying food and humanitarian assistance struck a landmine at the entrance to the town, killing one person and injuring three others.
Under international humanitarian law, an occupying power is required to ensure that food and medical supplies are available to the civilian population and to facilitate humanitarian relief when local resources are inadequate.
The deteriorating situation has prompted repeated Ukrainian appeals for international intervention.
The Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organisations recently called on Pope Leo XIV and international humanitarian organisations to support efforts to reach civilians trapped in the town. EU Today reported on the appeal for humanitarian access and civilian evacuation, which was also directed towards the International Committee of the Red Cross and UN member states.
Hasanenko has also alleged that disappearances continue inside the occupied community.
She said one family had recently disappeared after being detained by Russian forces, adding that Ukrainian authorities did not know whether its members were still alive.
The individual case cannot presently be independently confirmed. The UN has, however, documented arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, torture and ill-treatment of civilians in Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory during the war.
With independent humanitarian organisations unable to operate freely in Oleshky and conventional supply routes severely restricted, Ukrainian forces are increasingly using drones for a role far removed from their conventional battlefield purpose: carrying food and medicines across the Dnipro to civilians who remain behind Russian lines.
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