Ukraine’ military intelligence report found that Russian occupation administration are putting a squeeze on Ukrainian farmers in occupied Kherson making them sell their produce to wholesalers in Crimea at low, giveaway prices while locals scramble to make a living.
Known for a wide variety of fruit grown, this southern region now sees its farmers struggling with discriminative practices as Crimean wholesalers are offering only a fraction of the value of the produce- at times, it is mere 10% of the regular price.
Farmers are banned from going and selling their fruit to Ukraine, which makes them give away strawberries and cherries for free to locals.
Meanwhile, people in Mariupol people are now offered to sign up for volunteer work to be given an ‘access to food’. The occupation officials use this scheme to recruit people for clearing up debris and dead bodies’ removal. The city municipal services face understaffing issues promising 10 thousand rubles’ monthly wages.
The Russian-installed officials also suffered a setback in Melitopol, Zaporizhzya, where teachers refuse to go back to work over the demand to use Russian curriculum. Scrambling to fill in the openings, Russians offer teaching jobs to unqualified people or try to lure teachers from Russia or Russian-occupied Crimea while local educators face threats and abuse.