![]() ![]() Ukraine has been famous for its black earth for centuries, among the most productive, properly cultivated, perhaps the most productive farmland in the world. He explained that targeting agriculture isn’t simply an economic attack – it also impacts Ukrainian civilians and morale. John Herbst was the US ambassador to Ukraine from 2003 to 2006, currently heading up the Eurasia Center at the Atlantic Council. > Read more on The Observers: Fears of food shortages after Russian attacks on grocery stores in Ukraine The strategy harkens back for some to the Holodomor, where up to five million Ukrainians died in a famine that many insist was a genocide orchestrated by the Soviet government from 1932 to 1933. The tactics have also renewed fears in Ukraine of an organised effort by Russia to incite fear and hunger amongst Ukrainians. ‘Since civilians are the ones who are ploughing those fields, I think that does constitute a war crime’ Together, the two countries account for 29% of global wheat exports. Russia is the world’s top wheat exporter, while Ukraine sits at number five. ![]() German Agriculture Minister Cem Oezdemir worried that these attacks on Ukrainian grain infrastructure could be attempts by Russia to reduce competition in export markets. “Some of these attacks are so precise – it’s just a warehouse, for example, that’s destroyed with no collateral damage on the homes around it,” Welsh told the FRANCE 24 Observers team. Footage of the attacks prove that there have been “very deliberate attempts by Russia to curtail Ukraine’s agricultural production”, according to Caitlin Welsh, director of the Global Food Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). US officials have reported documenting at least six grain storage facilities damaged by Russian attacks as of late March. Farm equipment such as tractors is visible near the explosion site. A video posted on Telegram on May 2 shows a rocket strike on a grain facility near Synelnykove in the Dnipropetrovsk region of Ukraine. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |