Russian pig farm hit by kamikaze drone and shelling

Russian Telegram channel Shot reported that the farm, located 3 km away from the Ukrainian border sustained substantial damage to 3 pig houses. While the kamikaze drone only hit the video surveillance system, the biggest damage came from shelling. 5 mines were fired at the production facilities from the Ukrainian side.

Rescuing animals

Agro Belogorie confirmed the incident estimating that the attack killed 178 pigs and left more than a 100 pigs wounded. The company also added it planned to put the facility back into operation as soon as possible.

“The company’s employees are eliminating the consequences of shelling and are rescuing wounded and shell-shocked animals,” the publication said.

The first Russian farm

This is the first time a Russian industrial pig farm is affected by the hostilities. The Belgorod region accounts for roughly 20% of the Russian pork production. This is approximately 930,000 tonnes per year. It borders Ukraine’s Kharkiv region in the south.

The Belgorod authorities claimed that the region is regularly shelled by the Ukrainian Armed Forces. A few days earlier, shelling at a farm in another part of the Belgorod region killed 10 cows.

Looming concerns

Some pig farmers operating in the Belgorod region fear the escalation of the Ukrainian conflict. At the end of 2022, Russian pig company RusAgro disclosed it prepared a plan for the operation of its Belgorod assets if the fights would transfer to the Russian ground.

Alexander Tarasov, financial director of RusAgro, said that the company was worried about its land bank, a significant part of which is concentrated in the Belgorod region.

Mounting losses in the Ukrainian pig industry

However, this is not the first industrial pig farm affected by the fights. In the middle of 2022, the Ukrainian Association of pig producers calculated that the industry lost 300,000pigs, 10% of the pig population at industrial farms.

Oksana Jurchenko, president of the association, said that the Donetsk region used to be the second-largest pig-producing province in the country. Several large industrial farms have been destroyed or shut down by their owners due to proximity to the fights.