Russians target Ukrainian farm killing 13,000 pigs

Russian forces have carried out another attack on a Ukraine farm, this time killing more than 13,000 pigs during an overnight barrage.

The attack seems to be part of a Russian strategy to target significant sources of food in Ukraine, including large farms and food processors.

See also: Ukraine War – the impact on agriculture one year on

During this particular attack on Friday (3 October), the Russians hit Svitanok Farm, in the Kharkiv oblast, north-east Ukraine, sending more than 20 drones that blew up farm buildings and killed animals.

About 1,250 sows and 15,000 pigs were kept on this farm, which supplied pork to retailers all over Ukraine. The cost of the damage is estimated to exceed £5m.

Kamikaze drones

Oleksandr Kolisnyk, director of Svitanok Farm, said: “From just after 1am until 5am the Russians bombed our farm with a number of Shahed and Geran kamikaze drones.

“We counted about 24 explosions, and our Ukrainian rescue forces confirmed 20 explosions.

“The bombs hit many of our buildings, totally destroying them. We have lost over 13,000 pigs in this attack, that’s years of breeding and production lost in just a few hours.

© Oleksandr Kolisnyk

“The Russians aimed at our pig farm on purpose, hitting us for four hours long with intervals of 20 to 40 minutes between each drone attack.

“We also lost some buildings used for storage, but having over 13,000 pigs killed is really a catastrophe.

“The Shahed drones flew right into our barns and exploded on impact.”

New strategy 

The Russians have embarked on a new strategy of not only destroying energy sources in Ukraine as winter approaches, but also targeting food sources.

Oksana Yurchenko, president of the Association of Ukrainian Pig Breeders, said some areas of Ukraine have lost all their pig production farms and facilities.

Ms Yurchenko said: ”Regions closest to active hostilities, near the front lines, have suffered the most, including Kharkiv, Zaporizhia, and Dnipropetrovsk oblasts.

“The Russians are hitting our food lines, including one of our major pork processors, Miasnoy MK, which has been shelled and significantly damaged three times since the war began.

© Oleksandr Kolisnyk

“Due to the ongoing conflict, pig production has been lost entirely in Sumy, Kherson and Donetsk oblasts.

“This includes the country’s largest pig producer, APK-Invest, which had over 23,000 sows in a farrow-to-finish operation, now all destroyed.

“Before the war, the Donetsk oblast had the largest commercial swine population in Ukraine, but that has been wiped out.”