Increase in grain harvest in Luhansk and the seizure of Ukrainian grain

• Luhansk region plans to collect 1 million tons of grain.
• Ukraine suspects Russia of stealing 15 million tons of grain.
• Export of grain from occupied territories is mixed with Russian grain.

Luhansk region, which has been controlled by Russia since 2022, plans to double the grain harvest this year, according to local officials. They report that the region aims to collect nearly one million tons of grain, a portion of which will likely be exported. This increase in production reflects Luhansk's growing role in the agricultural sector of Russia, as the region has become important for the world's largest exporter of grain.

This year, Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia regions, which Russia refers to as its "new territories," accounted for nearly 3% of the total grain supply in Russia. Ukraine believes that all grain produced in these regions and in Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014, was stolen, and plans to appeal to its Western allies to impose sanctions against the imports of this grain.

According to estimates from Ukraine, since the start of the full-scale war, Russia has stolen 15 million tons of Ukrainian grain. Part of this grain is mixed with Russian grain and is exported through the ports of the Black Sea. Kyiv asserts that its investigative services have found that Ukrainian grain is being mixed with Russian grain at the ports.

Russian officials do not comment on the legal status of the grain collected in the "new territories," and statistical data on the harvest in these regions are not included in the reports of leading analytical companies. However, the Ministry of Agriculture of Russia notes that support for farmers in the "new territories" amounts to 8 billion rubles per year.

In the fields of Luhansk, where earlier battles took place, according to local officials, the area planted with grain has increased by 10%. Farmers note that the absence of export taxes makes their production more attractive for traders.

However, the conditions for growing grain remain challenging. In Luhansk region, there is a shortage of moisture in the soil, although the weather is better than in the neighboring Rostov region of Russia, where drought threatens to reduce yields by up to 30%.

Tags: Ukraine/Russia/Economy/Crime