Our hearts and thoughts are with our colleagues from The Union of Agrarian Journalists of Ukraine, a long-time member of IFAJ. Our Ukranian friends and colleagues, including Iurii Mykhailov and Alena Novichkova, have been active, dedicated members, contributing generously to the organization with their insight and skills.
Here is a report from Iurii in Kyiv from Friday, 25 February at 19.00 local time
The situation here is dire. Russian troops are about 15 miles from north-west outskirts of Kyiv. Small stores are closed. Yesterday I saw long lines of people at the ATMs and drug stores. Today most drug stores are closed. The shelves in supermarkets are half-empty. There are no bread, crackers, matches and lighters. The public transportation today has completely stopped. People can shelter on the three underground lines of metro. Half of the one metro line (close to where I live) is running on the surface, so it’s of no use as a shelter. Without a car it’s practically impossible to leave Kyiv. And that’s provided one has got a fuel. The railroads stopped trains to/from Kyiv. I live in so called “sleeping area” so it’s unlikely to be the target for bombing or shelling. Though anything is possible.
For the moment one must forget about an agricultural journalism. The planting season could start in two-three weeks but it’s looks very unlikely right now. Because of hostilities there probably will be shortages of fuel and fertilizers. Some machine operators are drafted as tankers. Sea ports are shut down and major shipping and trading companies closed their offices. It’s probable that Kyiv is going to fall in a couple of days but resistance will continue in other regions. On the other hand it may be easy to take a big city but it’s very difficult to keep it. People are ready for the guerilla movements.
Iurii provided additional details in this article on America’s agriculture.com: