Russian invading forces have stolen “several hundred thousand tons” of grain in territory they hold, Ukraine’s deputy agriculture minister said on April 30.
“Today, there are confirmed facts that several hundred thousand tons of grain in total were taken out of the Zaporizhzhya, Kherson, Donetsk, and Luhansk regions,” Taras Vysotskiy told Ukrainian TV.
Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine
RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia's full-scale invasion, Kyiv's counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war in Ukraine, click here.
Ukraine is one of the world’s major grain producers and the Russian invasion has curtailed exports, pushing up world grain prices and raising concerns about severe grain shortages in importing countries.
Ukrainian Agriculture Minister Mykola Solskiy said grain theft had increased in the last two weeks.
"I personally hear this from many silo owners in the occupied territory. This is outright robbery. And this is happening everywhere in occupied territory," the ministry quoted Solskiy as saying.
He said such a situation could create food problems in areas that are currently not controlled.
"There will soon be a wheat harvest in the south. But farmers in this situation may well say: 'Here are the keys to the tractor -- go collect it yourself, if you want'," Solskiy said.
The Kremlin denied Ukraine's allegations, saying it did not know where the information was coming from.
The Ukrainian Agriculture Ministry said on April 29 that six regions in Ukraine had completed their early spring grain sowing despite the Russian invasion.
Ukraine is divided into 24 regions, but there are no plans to sow grain in Luhansk in the east due to heavy fighting there.
The ministry gave no 2022 grain harvest forecast, while analysts see output at 41.4 million metric tons this year compared with 86 million tons in 2021.
The consultancy APK-Inform said 2022/23 grain exports could total 33.2 million metric tons versus 45.5 million expected for the 2021/22 season that ends in June, Reuters reported.