James Marson and Oksana Pyrozhok of The Wall Street Journal is report that Ukrainian farmers have sharply increased sales since Russian warships were pushed back by attacks with naval drones. They write:
Farmers like Oleksandr Kosenyuk in this central Ukrainian village are ramping up exports of grain thanks to a surprising military success that has subdued the Russian Black Sea Fleet hundreds of miles away.
Ukrainian naval drones have sunk a series of Russian warships, putting swaths of the Black Sea all but off limits to the Russian Navy and allowing Ukraine to increase grain exports close to prewar levels from its main ports in Odesa.
“It is thanks to our armed forces,” said 46-year-old Kosenyuk, whose nearly 7,000-acre farm grows wheat, barley and corn, among other crops. “Without the corridor, we don’t have exports, we don’t have an economy. That is one of the enemy’s main aims: to destroy the economy.” […]
Kosenyuk is also making what he says are equally vital investments in Ukraine’s armed forces. He provides troops with off-road vehicles and food, from canned meat to dumplings stuffed with cabbage or potato. At Christmas, he sent nearly 60 lbs. of food to every soldier from the village.
“Our job in the rear is to fill the budget,” he said. “It is to finance the armed forces above all.”
Read more here.
