Ukrainian farmers rush to harvest grain from fields near frontline

Farmers are racing to collect crops in nearby fields before they are also consumed by fires started by Russian shelling during the fighting in Donetsk.

Dmytro, a Ukrainian soldier, held out a handful of burned wheat stalks that he had picked from a blackened field. "This is territory that was almost captured by the Russians. They are only 3 km away."

Just a short distance away, a thick layer ash covers the ground where once stood a large grain silo. It was destroyed by a missile last week. The contents of the silo, which contained last year's crop, were destroyed in the aftermath of the strike.

After Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February, the fourth-largest exporter of grains in the world, Kyiv repeatedly accused Russia of attacking infrastructures and agriculture to create a global food crisis.

Moscow calls the conflict "special military operation" and blames Western sanctions as well as seamines placed by Ukraine for the fall in food exports, and the rise in global prices.

Andriy, a farmer from the Dnipropetrovsk area, is brave enough to risk his crops being up in flames because his fields have been subject to almost constant shelling for over a month.

Andriy said: "We got used it, strange is when they don't shoot," while driving his combine harvester through the wheat field. "When they shoot it is normal, it's what we have become accustomed to."

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