The Russian military has sent the first freight train carrying stolen Ukrainian grain from the temporarily occupied part of the Zaporizhia region to the Crimea.
This was reported by the Interfax news agency, citing collaborator Yevhen Balytskyi, whom the occupiers appointed as the so-called head of the Zaporizhia regional military/civilian administration.
"I am announcing that the first … 11 railcars carrying grain from the Melitopol elevator have departed for the Crimea," Balytskyi said.
The collaborator expressed the hope that "these deliveries will be increased hundreds of times, hundreds of cars, thousands of cars in the near future."
According to Balytskyi, Ukrainian farmers will "receive money” for the grain stolen by the Russians “so that they can plant crops for the next harvest."
The occupation administration of the Melitopol district stated that "the region has always been famous for high grain yields" and therefore, "the nearest countries are naturally considered as exporters."
As reported, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu recently said that the Russian occupation forces and the state railway company, Russian Railways, had organized rail transport at six sites in occupied Ukrainian territories. "We have begun delivering goods to Mariupol, Berdiansk, and Kherson. The total length of restored railway tracks is 1,200 kilometers," Shoigu said.
As the CFTS portal also reported, the Russians are methodically stealing Ukrainian assets in the temporarily occupied territories and trying to export them to Russia, including through ports. In particular, the Russian occupiers are not ashamed to officially declare the export of grain and metal through ports.
