The Pillage of Ukrainian Agricultural Assets

The present report focusing on the Zaporizhzhia Oblast is the second in a series of six reports detailing the Russian occupying authorities’ pillage policy and timeline in Ukraine’s partly or wholly occupied oblasts. The next report focuses on Luhansk Oblast, part of which Russia de facto took over through separatist proxies in 2014 and then almost entirely annexed along with Donetsk during the 2022 full-scale invasion. 

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The Zaporizhzhia Oblast is critical to Russia’s war economy in Ukraine as it is among Ukraine’s top-ranking grain-producing oblasts. Additionally, it is near the Crimean Black Sea ports and has its own port of Berdyansk on the Azov Sea, connecting to the Black Sea, which Russia now considers part of its territory.