Russia destroyed 90% of Ukraine’s modern warehouses, Kyiv says there’s no threat of famine
Taras Vysotsky says most modern Ukrainian storage capacity has been lost to Russian strikes but rejects the idea of an imminent food crisis.
Ukrainian Agriculture Minister Taras Vysotsky said Russia has destroyed about 90 percent of the country’s modern warehouse capacity used for storing various goods, but he insisted Kyiv does not face a food shortage.
Vysotsky’s warning came as Russian forces have stepped up strikes on commercial storage and logistics hubs across Ukraine, hitting facilities that hold groceries and other everyday products.
Logistics under strain, businesses adapt
According to the minister, repeated destruction of warehouses forces companies to seek other ways to move and store goods. He said the most realistic immediate solution is for suppliers to deliver products straight to production or retail sites rather than keeping them in long-term storage.
Vysotsky added that some firms are relocating storage to other regions, but Russian strikes have also damaged some of those new sites. He stressed the government is not a party to private commercial contracts and argued for fair sharing of losses across the supply chain.
"There is no threat of famine," Vysotsky said, while also urging that risks be distributed evenly when goods are destroyed in Russian attacks: "There is no state operator anywhere in the supply and retail chain. These are exclusively commercial and contractual relations between the parties. From our point of view, however, it would be fair for risks to be distributed evenly."
Vysotsky’s remarks came after a Russian ballistic missile strike on August 5 that killed 17 people and struck warehouses belonging to several supermarket chains and other civilian companies, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said. In that attack a Rozetka distribution center — the largest Ukrainian online retailer’s hub — was completely destroyed; co-founder Iryna Chechotkina said that facility handled more than 100,000 orders a day.
Since the strike, some shops have reported limited supplies or shortages of everyday items such as vegetables, dairy and meat, and panic buying by consumers has put additional pressure on stocks. On the night of August 28, another Russian attack reportedly destroyed 14 warehouses in the Kyiv region, including sites storing thousands of books for publishers and bookstore chains.
Photo: press material from the event
