July 02, 2022

Stealing Grains


Stealing Grains
Hands off Ukraine's grain! Pexels, Pixabay.

On June 25, Taras Vysotsky, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Food for Ukraine, reported that approximately 400,000 tons of Ukrainian grain have been stolen by Russian forces.

The grain is being illegally exported from territories occupied by Russian forces – Zaporizhzia, Kherson, Luhansk, and Donetsk – to Russia-held Crimea, according to reports by Ukrainian farmers, and GPS tracking.

Ukraine’s agriculture has suffered immensely since the start of the Russian invasion, and grain shortages are one of the main economic reasons. And, as is being reported widely in international media, since Ukraine was one of the world's top exporters of grain, so disruptions to this supply chain is expected to lead to global shortages.

At the beginning of the invasion, Ukraine held over a million tons of grain in storage, meaning that nearly half that amount has been stolen. Overall, the Kyiv School of Economics estimates total agricultural losses for Ukraine to be approximately R229.2 billion ($4.3 billion).

This is also not the first instance of Russian troops stealing food from local farmers.

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