Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia was able to export more than 10 million tons of wheat and 5 million tons of sunflower from the occupied territories of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia regions, receiving an income of approximately 7.085 billion dollars from their export, Graintrade reports.
Texty.org.ua calculated the volume of exported grain and the profit from its export based on the data of the agro-technological company OneSoil on the area of sowing in the temporarily occupied territories.
Stolen grain
Thus, in the spring of 2022, the Russian occupiers took away or bought for nothing the remaining grain from Ukrainian farmers, as well as stole the grain that was in elevators and warehouses. In 2022, the Russians sowed the lands in the occupied territories independently, and the harvest was also exported.
Grain from the occupied territories is exported to Crimea or Russian cities. Satellite images show regular queues of trucks near the grain terminals in Kerch and Sevastopol.
The Russian occupiers exported Ukrainian grain unhindered thanks to an established logistics system and a network of buyers. In addition, the ports of the occupied Crimea have a greater capacity and were not affected by the hostilities.