DNR terrorists hamper the transit of grain for export

Ukrainian farmers are experiencing difficulties with shipping of grain from the territory controlled by Russian-sponsored militants, who are demanding money for any transit. Harvesting in Ukraine’s eastern regions is being hampered by the ongoing conflict.

“Since the beginning of harvest, grain carriers have been facing problems moving grain at railway stations in Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts,” reports Ukrzaliznytsia, the state-owned railway. “Not only trains with grain, but also coal trains can only leave stations after negotiating with the self-proclaimed ‘officials’ in these two eastern regions. We are seeing more and more cases of deliberate delays of rolling stocks.” UZ added that trains destined for the seaports of Mykolayiv have sometimes been held up for as much as 400-700 hours, 16-30 days.

The Ukrainian Grain Growers’ Association (UGGA) says that such “negotiations” often end up with the representatives of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) demanding bribes in return for a green light to move the grain through Donbas.

Since August 2014, the total volume of grain shipped via Donetsk railways has declined by half, to 32 grain cars per day, as opposed to 60 in August of 2013.

“Due to the antiterrorist operation (ATO), the pace of harvesting in both Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts is lower than in other steppe zones by nearly 95%. In Donetsk Oblast, nearly 88% of the crop has been harvested, while in Luhansk Oblast it’s only 61%,” says the President of the Ukrainian Agribusiness Club, Oleksandr Lysytsia.

Source: delo.ua

Tags: grain, agriculture