• Some of Ukraine’s best farmland is on the front lines of the fighting.
• Summer fires are damaging a harvest that was already hard to gather and ship overseas.
• Officials in Ukraine realize that part of Russia’s strategy is to destroy Ukraine’s agricultural wealth. 

In the dazzling heat of Ukraine this summer, combine harvesters race over fields of grain to beat fires.

Some of Ukraine’s best farmland is on the front lines of the fighting. Whether they started by mistake or with intent, the summer fires are damaging a harvest that was already hard to gather and ship overseas.

Pavlo Serhienko is right in the center of this fight. In the Vasylivka district of Zaporizhzhia, the 24-year-old is the third generation of his family to farm. Serhienko maintains the 3,000-hectare farm by himself since his father died of coronavirus.

“We can’t get there at all. Either it’s mined or it’s close to occupied land, which however the front line. Some of the fields had individuals living there.”

Serhienko’s family company went up in flames. Officials in Ukraine realize that part of Russia’s strategy is to destroy Ukraine’s agricultural wealth.

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Last week, the Russian military however accused of “deliberately destroying” crops in the Kherson region of southern Ukraine. This is one of the most productive farming areas in the country.

The police stated that Russian servicemen were “Farming with shells that can spark fires. Every day, enormous fires destroy hundreds of hectares of wheat, barley, and other grain crops.”