Ukrainian farmers have brought agricultural machinery damaged or destroyed by Russian invaders to the border with Poland, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy has said.
As of today, it will be placed at the Krakovets-Korczowa checkpoint. In this way, Ukrainian farmers want to show Polish protesters the conditions in which farmers in Ukraine are currently working.
Among the agricultural machinery that was shot at are tractors, a sprayer, a GAZ-53 truck and combines from the de-occupied territories of Kherson Region. For example, a K-701 tractor was provided by a company located in the Bilozerka village community. The farm was under occupation from March to November 2022. The Russians destroyed almost all the equipment and stole the crops. Only ruins and shell craters remained on the territory of the enterprise. The direct losses of this enterprise amounted to about 5 million euros.
Ukrainian farmers say they are fighting for the harvest at the cost of their lives. In 2023, 20 farmers in the de-occupied territories of Kherson Region alone were injured by Russian mines, five of them were killed.
In total, the Ukrainian agricultural sector has suffered more than $80 billion in direct losses and damages over the two years of the full-scale war. This is the data provided by the World Bank in its Ukraine Damage and Recovery Needs Assessment (RDNA3). The largest category of losses is damaged and destroyed agricultural machinery worth $5.8 billion.
Experts estimate the damage caused by the theft or destruction of agricultural products already produced at $1.97 billion, losses due to damage to grain storage facilities at $1.8 billion, damage to perennial plantations at $398 million, livestock at $254 million, and aquaculture and fisheries at $35 million.
The damaged agricultural machinery will remain at the border until the end of March.