Ukraine’s ambassador says Russia’s attacks on foreign ships and harassment of farmers reinforce the need for New Zealand to keep supporting his country.
Ambassador to New Zealand and Australia, Vasyl Myroshnychenko, said a key issue now was stopping Russia’s latest advance targeting the city of Pokrovsk, a logistical hub.
The BBC described Pokrovsk as a small mining city about 60km north-west of regional capital Donetsk.
Myroshnychenko said the area exported coal for use in the steel industry.
“Russians have also started attacking the ships that come to the Black Sea ports. These are ships which are under flags of different countries.”
Russia last week hit the Palau-registered Optima cargo ship.
And the Financial Times said on October 6, the Saint Kitts and Nevis-flagged Paresa cargo ship loaded with grain and corn was damaged.
“The economy relies on the export of grain,” Myroshnychenko said. “The economy also had some other sectors like the steel industry, which has been suffering as well.”
Myroshnychenko said vast tracts of Ukrainian land had been mined.
“For farmers, especially those who are closer to the front lines, it’s been extremely difficult for them.
“It’s fertile land but a lot of it’s being attacked.”
He said many farmers had lost their land to occupiers and others were just trying to break even.
“Farmers are in survival mode.”
The ambassador said domestic grain prices were very low, but the Black Sea problems complicated prices for exports.
“The big traders who buy it from farmers have to hedge it against the risk of some of it getting destroyed.”
Many exports went through the Black Sea but Russian naval operations had at times since the February 2022 invasion disrupted shipping.
Myroshnychenko said Ukraine’s electricity supplies were under threat as winter approached.
“Currently 50% of the power generation in Ukraine is destroyed.”
He said three nuclear power plants were intact but Russia would probably try to target transmission lines from these plants.
“Pretty much every other day we see targeted attacks on civilian infrastructure, power generation and electricity distribution,” he said.
“So this winter’s going to be a tough winter for us.”
He said many Russian military operations were designed to demoralise civilians and make life unbearable.
“Ukraine is being attacked on a daily basis by missiles, drones and gliding bombs. Most of the gliding bombs are being used closed to the front lines.”
He told the Herald the Kursk incursion was intended to divert Russian troops away from other parts of the front line and to create a buffer zone.
He said the Russian troop diversion “didn’t really happen” but added: “Nevertheless we took the Russians by surprise.”
Myroshnychenko said Russia was increasingly aligning itself with rogue states such as North Korea which undermined global security.
He said an emboldened North Korea presented potential risks to security in the Pacific, which would be of consequence to New Zealand.
Technology was probably the only sector growing in Ukraine’s economy, Myroshnychenko said.
The sector was assisting Ukraine’s defence.
“We see more and more on this, especially in the use of UAVs, also on electronic warfare and the great innovation happening at the moment.”
Myroshnychenko said New Zealand’s armed forces could be among those to benefit from innovation in this arena.
The New York Times on the weekend reported on Ukrainians developing fire-breathing drones after Russian soldiers used the dense cover of tree lines to prepare to storm Ukrainian trenches.
An article from the US-based Atlantic Council think-tank earlier this month said international funding was crucial for Ukrainian defence tech manufacturers to improve technologies and scale up production.
Kelly Eckhold, Westpac chief economist, said ongoing hostilities in the Black Sea and the harassment of shipping there would impact grain prices.
“One of the impacts of the outbreak of the Ukraine war was to reduce the supply of grain on the global market,” he told the Herald.
“There have been some openings in those channels since the war started, partly because the Russian Navy was pushed back.”
He said the war’s developments impacted grain prices and to some extent oil prices.
“The US Treasury has been trying to tighten the sanctions in the last six months because the Russians have been trying to get around them.”
But countering that was less demand because the Chinese economy had been in a slowdown.