Russian oligarch Alexander Tkachov's company, Agrocomplex, has seized around 400,000 acres of farmland belonging to three Ukrainian agribusinesses in Ukraine's Russian-occupied territories, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Tkachov, an ally of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, is a former agriculture minister and governor of Russia's Krasnodar Krai.
The Ukrainian authorities are investigating the theft of farmland by Tkachov’s company, according to the newspaper.
“Russia is taking over the economy in occupied territories and using that control to help control the whole area,” Dmytro Skorniakov, CEO of Ukrainian agricultural company HarvEast Holding, said.
HarvEast has lost 100,000 acres in Russian-occupied parts of Donetsk Oblast, while Nibulon, another agribusiness firm, has lost 50,000 acres, and Agroton has accused Agrocomplex of stealing 250,000 acres.
As of Nov. 10, an estimated 2.8 million metric tons of grain and 1.2 million tons of oil seeds with a combined value of $1.87 billion had been destroyed or stolen due to Russia’s war against Ukraine, according to the Kyiv School of Economics.
Research using satellite imagery from NASA’s food security and agriculture program showed that Russia had collected almost 6 million tons of wheat from occupied territories, Bloomberg reported on Dec. 3.
Swiss Prosecutor General Stefan Blaettler said in July that selling looted raw materials could constitute a war crime.
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Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Witkoff will present Putin with the latest version of the U.S.-Ukraine framework drafted during recent rounds of talks in Geneva and Florida.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has detained British citizen Ross David Cutmore, who came to Ukraine as a military instructor, on suspicion of working for Russian intelligence, an SBU source told the Kyiv Independent on Dec. 2.
A Russian oil tanker reportedly came under a drone attack in the Black Sea while en route to a port in northern Turkey on Dec. 2, according to Turkish authorities.
"Ukraine approaches all diplomatic efforts with utmost seriousness – we are committed to achieving a real peace and guaranteed security," Zelensky said.
According to Ukraine’s national "Children of War" database, at least 19,546 Ukrainian children have been abducted from Russian-occupied territories and taken to Russia or Russian-controlled areas since February 2022.
"All of this is done exclusively for Western audiences and to raise the stakes in diplomacy," said Andrii Kovalenko, head of Ukraine's Center for Countering Disinformation.
The latest incident occurred on Nov. 30, when Vilnius International Airport suspended operations after unidentified objects — believed to be balloons — appeared in nearby airspace.
Russian forces captured about 505 square kilometers (195 square miles) of Ukrainian territory in November, almost twice the gains recorded in September, DeepState said in an assessment Dec. 1.
"The informational 'victories' that the Russian Defense Ministry announces daily on paper have nothing to do with the real situation on the front lines," Ukraine's 11th Army Corps said.
A Ukrainian deep-strike unit hit a Russian "storage and launch area" for Shahed-type drones near Cape Chauda, Crimea, overnight on Nov. 28, the Special Operations Forces said.
Businessman Timur Mindich, a former business partner of President Volodymyr Zelensky, fled Ukraine before the court considered the motion.
The visit follows talks between Ukrainian and U.S. officials in Florida, as Kyiv seeks to negotiate better conditions in the Washington-backed 28-point peace deal.
U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff held another meeting with Ukrainian negotiator and top security official Rustem Umerov in Florida, a White House official told the Kyiv Independent on Dec. 1.
"No actions by Ukraine are directed against Kazakhstan or other third parties — all of Ukraine's efforts are focused on repelling full-scale Russian aggression," Ukraine's Foreign Ministry said.
