Occupiers steal 2,000 tons of grain from Zaporizhzhia Oblast - investigation launched

DANA HORDIICHUK — TUESDAY, 14 JUNE 2022, 12:19

Russian occupiers have stolen almost 2,000 tons of grain from enterprises in Zaporizhzhia Oblast. Two criminal proceedings have been opened regarding this situation.

Source: The press service of the Prosecutor General's Office

Details: A pre-trial investigation into two criminal proceedings on violations of the laws and customs of war is carried out by investigators of the Security Service of Ukraine in the Zaporizhzhia region under the procedural guidance of the Zaporizhzhia Oblast Prosecutor's Office.

According to the investigation, during May and June the Russian military forced employees of a branch of one of the companies in the occupied Vasylivka district, under the threat of physical violence, to load wheat onto vehicles without licence plates marked with the letter "Z" [this letter is used by the Russian army and Russian occupying forces - ed.]. 

The occupiers stole more than 1,200 tons of grain from the enterprise, shipping it off in an unknown direction.

Also on 8-9 June, Russian troops armed with automatic weapons stole almost 500 tons of sunflower seeds from the warehouses of an agricultural enterprise in the village of Nesteriantsi in the Polohy district. 

Background: 

• The grain stolen from Ukrainian farmers in the temporarily occupied territories is being exported to Syria, where the Russian Federation has already sent 100,000 tons of wheat.
• The Ministry of Agrarian Policy of Ukraine says that Russians have stolen about 500,000 tons of grain – a third of the amount in the occupied territories. The Russian Federation tried unsuccessfully to "export" some of this grain to Egypt.
• For a sustained period, the theft of Ukrainian grain has been reported from all temporarily occupied oblasts. In Luhansk Oblast, for example, Russians stole or destroyed the oblast’s three-year grain supply. This is the only area where sowing has not started.
• In the Zaporizhzhia region, grain is disappearing from ports, and farmers are being blackmailed and forced to give 70% of their harvest to the occupiers.