Investigation: Ukraine lost at least 8.5 million tons of crops in 2023 due to occupation of the south and east

A team of Ukrainian hackers, KibOrg, has gained access to information from the Russian information system Zerno with data on all transactions with agricultural products for 2022-2023. This is reported on the group’s website.

The Grain system is automated and is designed to track the supply of grain and its processed products in Russia. Starting from March 1, 2023, its use became mandatory. This system requires entering information about each batch of grain or processed products that was supplied. The system also includes data on the year of harvest, place of cultivation and other characteristics of each batch.

The table with more than 6,000 rows contains information about 233 companies and 105 private entrepreneurs doing business in the occupation, the numbers of grain identification documents (GIDs) for each batch, the volume, and the destination addresses along with the name of the recipient.

According to the documents available in the system, as of November 2023, 5.7 million tons of grain were harvested in the occupied territories of Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, and Luhansk regions, including 4.7 million tons of grain and 679 thousand tons of oilseeds. In Crimea, the occupiers harvested another 2.6 million tons of grain and 86 thousand tons of oilseeds.

Thus, the total amount of the harvest that Ukraine did not receive in 2023, according to the information from the “Grain” system, is at least 8.5 million tons, the report says.

Another table in the “Grain” system shows all the issued SDIS for the consignments, which in total indicate 1.3 million tons of agricultural products declared from September 2022 to November 2023. According to the information, the occupiers exported more than 184 thousand tons of agricultural products to the Rostov region and Krasnodar Territory of the Russian Federation. There is also information about buyers from Voronezh, Kursk, Lipetsk regions of the Russian Federation and the occupied Crimea.

Tags: Ukraine, Russia