Russians have removed a third of grain reserves from the occupied territories - almost half a million tonnes
Wednesday, 4 May 2022, 01:30
The Russians have removed a total of about 400,000 tonnes of grain from the four temporarily occupied Ukrainian regions, amounting to one-third of all reserves in the regions.
Source: Taras Vysotskyi, First Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, during "Espresso" broadcast
Quote: "About 1.3 million tonnes of grain have been left in the temporarily occupied territories. These are, above all, needed to ensure daily food security, that is to say, nutrition of Ukrainians living there, and to carry out the necessary spring field work in terms of sowing spring crops. There were no strategic reserves there…
We already have received confirmations from each region - the Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Donetsk, Luhansk regions - that about 100,000 [tonnes of grain - ed.] have been removed from each region."
Details: It is noted that if this continues and if Russians remove what was left in the regions for food before the new harvest rather than stocks, there is a risk of famine.
Background: Serhii Haidai, the Head of the Luhansk Regional Military Administration, stated that the Russians want to create a "Holodomor" (a man-made famine) following the destruction of a modern grain elevator complex in Rubizhne.
More Background:
- On 28 April, it was reported that Krasnoyarsk Krai region of the Russian Federation had decided to replenish its own stocks of agricultural products illegally with supplies from the partially occupied Kherson region, as the region is acutely short of vegetables and grain due to sanctions.
- A representative of the aggressor state, head of the Russian Committee Vladislav Zyrianov, said that his "colleagues" from other regions of Russia should also be able to "successfully" implement "such an experience."
- However, later the news that the deputies of the Krasnoyarskiy Kray region supported the measure of sourcing grain from the Russian-occupied territory of Ukraine’s Kherson Region had disappeared from the website of the Krasnoyarskiy Kray Legislative Assembly.
