Russia destroys Ukraine’s poultry industry

Ukraine’s largest egg producer, Avangard, said that the Russian aggression caused significant losses in production capacity, with several key egg farms shut down and destroyed, while at some operational farms the birds were left without feed and “condemned to death”. To date, the overall financial losses the company sustained have reached 1.5 billion hryvnias (US$51 million).

Almost the entire flock slaughtered

“In particular, Europe’s largest egg cluster, Chornobayivska in Kherson Region, has lost the ability to feed the birds, transport workers to the farm and ship finished products to customers due to military action by the Russian Federation, which threatens to kill the birds and cause an environmental disaster,” Avangard said.

The egg farm has been completely cut off from the power supply and production has been suspended. Some of the finished products and laying hens were given away to the local population amid the heavy shelling, but most of the flock was slaughtered as it was impossible to continue feeding birds, the company said.

A loss of a million hens

“Nearly 3 million hens will perish without the ability to dispose of them in an environmentally sustainable manner. In the near future, other key enterprises of the company – namely the egg farm in the village of Makariv and the egg farm at Brovary in Kyiv region – may also find themselves in a similar situation,” Avangard said, adding that the company is likely to lose 1 million heads of hens as a result.

The shutdown of key production facilities may result in a shortage of chicken eggs in Ukraine, the company warned.

Donations of eggs

“Even under such tough circumstances, however, Avangard is helping the population and the Ukrainian armed forces. Since the beginning of the Russian aggression in coordination with the Ministry of Agriculture, Avangard has donated hundreds of thousands of eggs of its own production free of charge to defenders of Ukraine. The company is also donating fuel and other resources, including vans as Avangard employees defend their homeland as members of the Ukrainian armed forces,” the company said.

Food warehouses become targets

Ukraine’s biggest broiler meat producer, MHP, said that the company suffered losses of 230 million hryvnias (US$8 million) as a result of shelling by Russian troops of the largest frozen food warehouse in Ukraine in the village of Kvitneve in the Kyiv region. In addition to MHP, large retail chains also used this warehouse.

“This is not the first food warehouse near Kyiv destroyed by the occupiers over the past few days. The enemy is attacking the food security of Ukraine,” the company said.