Date of publication: 02 May 2022 • 18 hours ago • 1 minute reading • 125 comments Yuri, a Ukrainian farmer, wearing armor and helmet, works in the vegetable soil in a field, during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, in the Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine, April 26, 2022 Photo by REUTERS / Ueslei Marcelino
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Russian troops occupying the Ukrainian city of Melitopol stole all equipment from a John Deere delegation and sent it to Chechnya, CNN reports.
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However, after a journey of 1,100 km, it was discovered that the looted equipment had been remotely locked by the Ukrainians, rendering it inactive. “When the intruders drove the stolen harvesters into Chechnya, they realized they could not even turn them on because the harvesters were locked remotely,” the source told CNN. Two harvesters, valued at $ 300,000 each, and a tractor and a sowing machine were initially seized, according to a source at the scene. In the following weeks in Melitopoli, the remaining 27 pieces of agricultural machinery, worth a total of almost $ 5 million in looted goods, were stolen.
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Ukraine’s Deputy Agriculture Minister announced on Saturday that Russian forces had stolen “several hundred thousand tons” of grain in the occupied territories. Speaking on Ukrainian national television, Taras Vysotskiy expressed concern that most of what he said was 1.5 million tonnes of grain stored in the occupied territories could also be stolen by Russian forces. Ukraine’s foreign ministry accused Russia on Thursday of stealing grain from territories it occupied during the invasion, an act it said increased the threat to global food security. In a video posted by the mayor of Melitopolis, an escort of trucks allegedly loaded with grain was seen leaving the city. “We have clear evidence that grain was unloaded from the Melitopolis city elevator,” the mayor told CNN. “They robbed the elevator along with private farms.” With additional report from Reuters
