Russia exported about half a million tons of grain from the occupied territories of Zaporizhzhia

Grain, illustrative photo

This year, Russia stole and exported about 500,000 tons of grain from the temporarily occupied territories of the Zaporizhzhia region and plans to export another 200,000 tons.

This was announced by the head of the Zaporizhzhia RMA, Ivan Fedorov.

«The occupiers continue mass theft of Ukrainian grain from the temporarily occupied territories. Currently, these are already millions of tons of grain and industrial crops, which the enemy illegally takes to Crimea and the territory of the Russian Federation, and then exports,» he said.

According to him, the losses of the Zaporizhzhia region's agricultural sector in the first year of occupation amounted to more than 7 billion hryvnias due to stolen grain alone.

Fedorov noted that at the beginning of the full-scale war, 1.8 million hectares of arable land were cultivated in the Zaporizhzhia region. Now 80% (1.4 million hectares) of these lands are under occupation or in the zone of active hostilities. It is from these territories that the occupiers collect and steal crops. Also, the invaders took away the harvests of previous years from elevators, granaries and the port of Berdiansk.

We will remind you that since the beginning of the year, the occupiers have shipped a new batch of 7,800 tons of grain stolen from Ukrainian farmers to the port of temporarily occupied Mariupol. In general, since the beginning of 2024, the occupiers, as they themselves claim, have sent more than 21,000 tons of agricultural products from Mariupol by sea.