Satellite images reveal a Ukrainian grain elevator decimated by Russian bombs in the occupied town of Rubizhne in the eastern Luhansk region, one in a series of attacks that appeared aimed at food and agricultural targets.
Serhiy Haidai, the governor of Luhansk region, reported the attack on his Telegram channel and cited images captured by "Planet Lab," an American satellite imaging company based in San Francisco.
The elevator was built in 2020, part of one of the most modern agribusiness complexes in Ukraine. The facility included a state-of-the-art laboratory for analyzing crops, a grain dryer that could process 1,500 tons of grain a day and many other high-tech features. Haidai reports that the elevator had 30,000 tons of grain when it was attacked.
"Russians want to stage another 'holodomor,'" he said, in a reference to the man-made famine in Ukraine in 1932-33 due to Stalin-era policies in the Soviet Union. A joint United Nations' statement from 2003 estimates that the famine killed 7-10 million people in just over a year.
Besides the attack on the grain silo, Ukrainian officials have accused Russian forces of stealing $5 million worth of agricultural equipment from occupied Melitopol. Mayor Ivan Fedorov reported that some of the stolen equipment was taken to Crimea. The rest was taken all the way to Chechnya.
"It's pure looting," Fedorov described on his Facebook page.
The strategy has the capacity to impact world food supplies.
Ukraine, often referred to as the "breadbasket of Europe," has 102 million acres of land dedicated to agriculture, 79 million acres – larger that the country of Italy – of which are cultivated annually.
The country is the world's largest exporter of sunflower seeds and among the top producers of wheat, corn, barley and soybeans.
Martin Frick, the director of the World Food Program's Berlin office, told German news agency DPA that almost 4.5 million tons of grain are stuck in Ukrainian ports because of the war in Russia.
"Ukraine's food is urgently needed in the world," Frick said, adding that Ukrainian shipments were critical to help tackle a "global food crisis."
Even if Ukraine manages to get the grain out of its blockaded ports, the shipping routes are fraught with danger. NATO reports that the Western Black Sea is full of floating mines. Work to sweep and eradicate the mines is under way.
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