2022 Russian theft of Ukrainian grain
[1] According to the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, As of May 2022[update], at least 400,000 tons of grain were stolen and exported from Russian-occupied Ukraine.[2][3] A study by the Kyiv School of Economics found that the Russian invasion cost Ukraine's agricultural sector $4.3 billion in destroyed equipment, damaged land and unharvested crops.[4] As of October 2022[update], the widescale theft of Ukrainian grain was continuing and involved both private companies and Russian state operatives.[5] According to an investigation released in June 2024 by the Belarusian Investigative Center, the Schemes project of Radio Liberty's Ukrainian service, and Vyorstka, in 2023, agricultural products worth 6.2 million euros were exported from the occupied territory of the Kherson Oblast, and out of the 6.4 tons of wheat collected, two million tons were exported through Crimean ports.[7] According to another investigation by the BRC, Schemes, Cyber Partisans, and KibOrg, released in August of the same year, rapeseed is being exported from the Kherson Oblast by people from Ramzan Kadyrov's entourage and their Belarusian business partners; documents were issued for the supply of 4.9 thousand tons of rapeseed to Belarus.