The Pillage of Ukrainian Agricultural Assets

Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russian forces have systematically targeted Ukraine's agricultural sector through destruction, theft, and coercion. Project Expedite Justice has documented these crimes while supporting affected farmers and agribusinesses in their pursuit of accountability.
 

This Report focuses on the Kharkiv Oblast, which Russian forces entered in February 2022 and occupied much of the region until Ukrainian forces liberated it during the September 2022 counteroffensive. PEJ documented 60 cases of pillage in the region, 39 of which also involved property destruction.
 

Project Expedite Justice identified two distinct patterns of agricultural theft. The first was centrally organized pillage, where occupation officials and commanders systematically coordinated the seizure and transport of agricultural assets to Russia. The second was opportunistic pillage, where passing military units and local actors looted farms during short-term occupations. In both cases, Russian forces seized crops, vehicles, machinery, and equipment, while occupation authorities pushed legitimate owners out through coerced re-registration, de facto takeovers, or outright theft.
 

The occupation operated through a top-down administrative system that normalized confiscation. Authorities established occupation-linked “state companies” and logistics networks to organize and scale theft, directing stolen goods into Russia for profit. The institutional infrastructure suggests the pillage was not incidental but part of a deliberate broader policy across multiple Ukrainian oblasts.

 

Russian forces used violence to enforce compliance. Across multiple locations, detentions, beatings, and killings accompanied pillage and created a coercive environment that suppressed civilian resistance. Because this violence occurred systematically alongside theft, rather than as isolated incidents, this indicates a deliberate practice of coercion, not individual soldiers’ spontaneous misconduct. Project Expedite Justice concludes there is a reasonable basis to determine that Russian armed forces and occupation authorities deliberately pursued a policy of pillaging Ukrainian agricultural assets in Kharkiv Oblast from February 2022 onward. The combination of organized logistics, administrative control, and systematic violence points to pillage as a recurring, institutionalized practice rather than opportunistic criminal behavior.

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These acts may constitute war crimes under customary international law and the Rome Statute. Project Expedite Justice continues to support investigations and legal filings to pursue accountability for these crimes.