MOSCOW, Sept 11 (Askume) – Ukraine’s offensive on Russia’s main agricultural region of Kursk has caused economic losses of about $1 billion and killed more than 150,000 people since the assault began, the region’s governor said on Wednesday.
On August 6, Ukraine launched its biggest foreign attack on Russia since World War II, with thousands of troops crossing the border into the Kursk region and using heavy weapons including drones and Western-made weapons.
Kursk is Russia’s main grain-producing region, last year grain production was 4% of Russia’s total production. Russia is the world’s largest wheat exporter.
“The introduction of the federal emergency regime and the anti-terrorist action regime in the region have had a significant impact on the region’s economy,” Governor Alexei Smirnov said at a public meeting with senior officials of Russia’s Agriculture Ministry.
Earlier on Wednesday, pro-Moscow war bloggers and a senior Russian commander said Russian forces had launched a massive counteroffensive against Ukrainian forces in Kursk .
Smirnov said that “the estimated losses amount to tens of billions of rubles and are still growing.” The cost of public demonstrations during the event was initially estimated at 85 billion rubles ($934.07 million).
He said 160,000 hectares of grain could not be harvested and 500,000 tonnes of oilseed crops and 700,000 tonnes of sugar beet crops were either destroyed or shipped out of Russia.
According to the governor’s data, more than 300,000 tons of grain remain in warehouses in areas occupied by Ukrainian troops. Smirnov also reported heavy livestock losses, with more than 350,000 pigs and cattle killed.
(1 USD = 91,0000 Rubles)
