Russia has stolen more than 180,000 tons of Ukrainian grain through the port of the occupied city of Mariupol in Donetsk Oblast alone, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said at a government meeting on Oct. 8.
Already by mid-2023, Russia is believed to have stolen up to 6 million metric tons of grain harvested in occupied Ukrainian territories.
The damage to Ukraine's agriculture industry is further compounded by the ongoing hostilities – often targeting agricultural facilities – and Russia's threats to the Black Sea shipping routes.
According to Shmyhal, Russia continues to use food "as an element of aggression."
Kyiv has lost large swathes of farmlands in Ukraine's south and east to Russian occupation and damge from war. Despite this, Ukraine's exports from January to September amounted to almost 100 million tons.
"In other words, we exported as much in nine months as we did during the entire last year," Shmyhal said.
Evidence compiled by human rights law firm Global Rights Compliance last year showed that Moscow prepared to steal grain supplies, target food infrastructure, and starve the Ukrainian population months before the full-scale invasion.
Russia's war against Ukraine has also threatened food security worldwide. Ukraine was the world's largest wheat producer before the invasion.
As Russia canceled the Black Sea grain deal in July 2023, Kyiv opened a new corridor the following month. Initially envisioned as a humanitarian corridor to allow the departure of ships stranded there since the start of the full-scale war, it has since grown into a full-blown trade route.
Dmytro Basmat
