Russia Resumes Attacks on Ukraine’s Seed Oil Processing Plants

Russian forces have resumed attacks on Ukraine’s seed oil processing plants, as Moscow continues to target the country’s export industry and infrastructure.

Local Ukrainian officials said on Friday said that a strike on the eastern city of Dnipro had killed two people and injured five others, as well as damaged an oilseed processing center.

A spokesperson from global agribusiness and food company ‌Bunge said in a statement that as a result of the attack, “a section of our Dnipro facility was impacted,” but no employees were injured.

The Dnipro Bunge plant—one of Ukraine’s five largest seed oil refining facilities and can process 1,600 tons of oilseeds per day—had previously been struck in January.

Russia has been ramping up its attacks on Ukraine’s port infrastructure, hampering the country’s ability to transport food oil products and wheat to international markets.

In December, Russia struck an export terminal in Pivdennyi in the southern region of Odesa, hitting three tanks storing sunflower oil. The terminal belonged to Allseeds, one of Ukraine’s largest vegetable oil producers.

Allseeds said in July that it was halting operations in Odesa due to Russian attacks on port infrastructure. The closed facility had the capacity to process 2,400 tons of sunflower seeds per day.

This is the fourth time Russia has targeted vegetable oil export terminals and seed oil processing plants over the past 18 months.

Disruptions to Grain Shipments

Before the Russian invasion in February 2022, Ukraine was the world’s largest exporter of sunflower oil, shipping between 5 to 6 million tons every year.

Ukraine is also among the world’s largest producers of other grain and seed products, namely corn, wheat, and sunflower seeds. Some 90 percent of these exported crops go through the Black Sea, but transportation has been hampered since Russia has increased its attacks on Black Sea port infrastructure and against ships carrying cargo.

In August, Russia struck and damaged a foreign-flagged ship carrying wheat in the Black Sea.

This adds pressure to Ukraine’s economy, given that farming accounts for nearly 60 percent of the country’s export revenue.

Russia is the world’s largest wheat exporter, and Ukraine has been targeting Russian grain and farming infrastructure in the Black Sea.

Experts have said that Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian ships and ports in the Black Sea could shut down grain exports.

The Russian Union ​of Grain Exporters and Producers told Reuters in July that this disruption represents “a direct threat to global food security.”

Similarly, the Ukrainian Agrarian Confederation, the country’s largest farming union, has said that disruptions to grain shipping as a result of Russian strikes in Odesa during harvest could impact global food supplies.

Reuters contributed to this report.