One of Vladimir Putin’s major agricultural regions has declared a state of emergency.
Ukraine has launched a blistering blitz on Russia over the summer that has crippled energy and logistics operations, including its shipping nodes.
That is what has befallen the Krasnodar Krai, in Russia’s southwest, just across the Sea of Azov from occupied Crimea.
It is a key part of Russia’s southwestern breadbasket, and has extensive coastline access used to ship its agricultural products worldwide.
However, its Black Sea ports have suffered badly under the blitz, reducing export capacity and creating backlogs in the region’s farms.
The independent newspaper The Moscow Times reports that farm stores are overflowing with grain after Ukraine knocked out 90 percent of Krasnodar’s grain-exporting capacity in August.
A state of emergency was signed on Wednesday by Krasnodar Krai Governor Veniamin Kondratyev, who cited “mass attacks on logistics facilities, suspended port operations and disrupted shipping in the Azov-Black Sea basin.”
He added that the missile and drone strikes had left farmers unable to sell their produce, leaving them laden with immovable goods.
He said the predicament threatened to “disrupt normal living conditions for the population and cause significant material losses.”
It has been a bountiful harvest.
Agricultural industry publication Feed Planet reports that the bumper harvest had pulled in around 130 million tons of grain and 90 million tons of wheat. Russia is the world’s third-largest wheat producer and largest exporter.
The Sea of Azov—which lies between Russia and occupied Ukraine and Crimea—and the Black Sea are where most of Russia’s agricultural exports sail from.
The Moscow Times reports that the unsold grain has led to dropping prices inside Russia.
Reuters reports that, in a desperate play to resume exports, Moscow is considering repurposing fertilizer and coal terminals in the north of the country, which are further away from Ukrainian missiles and drones.
Krasnodar Krai is only around 300 miles from the Ukrainian border and has, as a result, been hit routinely throughout the summer.
Images obtained by Reuters show oil refineries burning in the spring.
Meanwhile, satellite imagery also shows damage to a Wildberries logistics hub. Wildberries is Russia’s largest e-commerce brand, much like Amazon in the U.S., and the blitz has brutalized it.
