Ukraine,
food supplies,
soldiers
«Russian soldiers took over my farm': the battle for food supplies in Ukraine
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has upended the farming business, elevating fears of disruption to home and worldwide food supplies. The Guardian has spoken to a farmer in Kherson region about what life is like on the floor, with the Russian military hiding tanks in barns and shares of potatoes anticipated to deplete inside weeks.
Andrii Pastushenko, 39, is a dairy farmer who lives 12 miles from Kherson in the south of Ukraine, a metropolis that has been underneath management of the Russian navy.
On Monday, 10 Russian soldiers got here to arrange a base on the farm, leaving their tanks in barns, and extra soldiers arrived later. But after in a single day shelling by Ukraine’s navy at Kherson airport, the Russian troops left on Wednesday morning.
«They quickly packed up this morning, taking two cars and food from the farm and saying they were «nationalising' them,» he stated, including that they didn’t pay for both however stated: «See you soon.»
The 350-cow dairy farm had been promoting milk to the French dairy processor Lactalis, which has a presence in Ukraine.
Since the battle began, Pastushenko’s employees have been making butter, quark and cream, and distributing it to native villages and households. They have additionally been turning grain supplies into porridge and slaughtering cows to supply meat for the 70 farm staff on the website in addition to native residents.
«Right now everyone stays on the farm and keeps working,» stated Pastushenko, who stays there along with his 15-year-old son. His spouse has moved to the metropolis of Zhytomyr, 90 miles west of Kyiv, with their youthful son.
«In the first five days of the war, a milk truck came from Kherson and picked up milk and delivered it to all the city’s hospitals before distributing the leftovers to the local people. Now we have someone in every village who comes to the farm and picks up milk and food then distributes it, with the help of the churches,» he stated.
Pastushenko says they’re working out of feed for the cows and, with Russian soldiers in the space, he doesn’t know if they’ll have the ability to plant crops or harvest silage for the cows to eat.
«I can’t leave. I can’t take my son away. We are trapped here. If I leave, the hungry people will steal and slaughter the cows and other animals. We do that already, but only one cow every two days because we need meat for my employees and the rest of us,» he stated.