Since the invasion, Russia could steal more than 10 million tons of new crop wheat from the occupied territories

As stated in the joint material of the publication "Texty" and the agro-technological company "OneSoil", in the spring іn 2022, the Russians confiscated or bought for nothing the remaining grain from Ukrainian farmers in the occupied territories and stole the grain that remained in elevators and warehouses. In 2022, the Russians also managed to sow the occupied lands, but the counteroffensive of the Armed Forces at the end of 2022 and during 2023 cut down the sown areas on the occupied lands. This year, the Russians also harvested a considerable harvest from Ukrainian land. However, even with low yields, agriculture in the occupied territories during 2022-2023, according to very rough calculations, could provide the Russians with about 15 million tons thanks to only three crops: wheat, sunflower and corn.

In addition, despite the fact that certain parts of the Kherson, Zaporizhzhya, Donetsk and Luhansk regions have been under occupation for the second year, grain, as at the beginning of the full-scale invasion, is mostly exported through Crimea or to cities on the territory of Russia. Satellite images regularly show huge clusters of grain trucks near the grain terminals in Sevastopol and Kerch. The reason lies in established networks of buyers and well-developed logistics chains. In addition, the ports of the peninsula have a greater capacity and were almost unaffected by hostilities. In the ports of Berdyansk and Mariupol, there are no similar clusters of grain trucks, although the occupiers declare plans to significantly increase the cargo turnover of the ports and repair the terminals. In general, 10 million tons of wheat, which for almost 2 years of full-scale invasion, Russia could collect from the occupied territories, is approximately equal to the annual indicators of, for example, Romania.

If we start from the data on the sown areas and the estimated yield, as well as the historical data of grain export prices of the Moscow Exchange (VPN), then, according to the calculations of experts, for the grain of the three main crops grown in the temporarily occupied territories, the occupiers and collaborators could earn over 4 billion USD in 2022 and more than 2 billion already this year.