Ukraine’s harvest is making progress, but war is still ongoing within the country. Today, we are hearing a story of an operation taken over by Russia, and how farmers helped take down a Russian helicopter
Latifundist Media has partnered with us to provide boots-on-the-ground coverage:
Before the war, Oleksandr Kryvosheya, a farmer from the Kyiv region cultivated 500 hectares and had 200 rams. In the first days of Russia’s invasion, his village was occupied by Russian forces. In the fields of the enterprise, the artillery was placed, which shelled cities outside Kyiv and soldiers resided on the farm.
“We’ve got a satellite image showing about 120 pieces of Russian military equipment in our fields. We have coordinates to our artillery when a long convoy was coming. Some of them were already near the warehouses. Both the convoy and the warehouses were hit.”
Oleksandr and his family managed to leave before the occupation, but his father stayed in the village and informed him about the location of enemy troops. The farmers sent all of the coordinates to the Ukrainian army.
The video of the downed helicopter crashing into Oleksandr’s field is spectacular.
“The helicopter hit a post and then crashed. Several houses were damaged by the explosion. In the spring, we were still collecting the remnants of this helicopter to work in the field as they were in the way. We also found missiles and components of various equipment in the fields. Even the director of the war museum came and picked parts of equipment for his collection.”
After the Ukrainian army liberated the Kyiv region, the farmer returned home. His warehouses, grain, and most of the machinery were destroyed by fire. The Russians slaughtered more than 100 rams.
“We had rams and goats. There were 30 rams, one goat, and one pig left. The Russians lived here and ate them. At some point, the story of the farmer who aimed artillery at his own farm to destroy the enemy spread across the country.”
Journalists announced a fundraiser to restore the roof of Oleksandr’s warehouse. In 3 days, Ukrainians raised the required $15,000.
“These funds were a solid start to our recovery. It pushed us to start working again. We were amazed at how quickly the money was raised.”
What to do next?
Oleksandr says he is preparing for planting, saving on everything from seeds to fertilizer, yet he is cautious about making long-term plans, especially amid news of a potential enemy attack from Belarus.
“We were perfectly fine without Russia helping us. Now our only dream is that the war ends in 2023.”
There are hundreds of thousands of stories of loss, business, hope, and life in Ukraine. We will tell as many as possible to document Russia’s crimes.
That report was powered by Latifundist Media, with USAID support provided through Agriculture Growing Rural Opportunities (AGRO) Activity implemented in Ukraine by Chemonics International. For more information, visit their website or follow them on social media.
