Ministry: Ukraine's farmers received over $1 billion in loans in 2023

Over 7,600 Ukrainian agricultural enterprises received a collective 38 billion Hr. ($1 billion) in loans for development support since the beginning of 2023, the Agriculture Ministry said on June 21.

Of this number, 6,000 companies received a joint 22.5 billion Hr. ($600 million) under the "Affordable Loans 5-7-9" program, which was launched to "stimulate economic revival and employment of residents and internationally displaced persons" in 2020.

The highest loans under various programs went to farmers in Kyiv ($210 million), Vinnytsia ($110 million), Dnipropetrovsk ($84 million), Kirovohrad ($79 million), and Odesa ($70 million) oblasts.

Ukraine's agriculture suffered heavily due to the effects of the Russian invasion. Moscow repeatedly threatened to block grain exports through the Black Sea corridor, while surplus exports to Europe led to the EU banning some of Ukraine's agricultural products.

Russian forces have also been reportedly stealing Ukraine's grain and shipping it to Russia.

Most recently, the Kakhovka dam destruction resulted in the flooding of 10,000 hectares of arable land and over $4 billion of damage to irrigation infrastructure.

Inside Ukraine’s costly mission to grind down Russia near Bakhmut

Editor’s note: The Kyiv Independent interviewed a few dozen soldiers deployed near Bakhmut and visited their positions in late May and early June. The soldiers are identified by their first names or call signs for security reasons amid the ongoing Russian war in Ukraine. NEAR IVANIVSKE VILLAGE, Don…

The Kyiv IndependentAsami Terajima