A.G.R. Group to continue exporting part of its grain through EU even after war and de-occupation, takes interest in grain elevators in western Ukraine – holding management

The first part of an interview with the owner of the agricultural holding A.G.R. Group, Misak Khidiryan, and Board Chairman of A.G.R. Group Ihor Shestopalov about the key challenges of the past year – Russia's invasion and forced change of conditions and destinations of agricultural crops export.

By Oleksiy Kozachenko

What did you see at your agricultural cluster in Kyiv region after the "goodwill gesture" of the Russian troops?

Misak Khidiryan: Our Brovary cluster in Kyiv region was occupied in the spring. The Russian occupiers knocked out the gates with an armored personnel carrier, took the guards hostage and began to loot: they stole diesel fuel, equipment from warehouses, damaged expensive agricultural machinery. In addition, during missile and artillery attacks, the Rushists damaged storage silos, grain drying complex, and a grain storage facility with a capacity of 20,000 tonnes. The shelling also caused damage to the vehicles in the winter storage – John Deere tractors and trailed units. Up to the point that the occupiers broke the doors in self-propelled sprayers in order to get the radios. They couldn't take it – they just destroyed the panels.

The holding spent more than UAH 5 million for partial repairs. The restoration of the cluster took one month and a half – we rushed to get back in line and returned to work as soon as the sowing and harvesting campaigns started.

Some manufacturers of agricultural machinery left the Ukrainian market when the war broke out. How did this fact affect the working capacity of your agricultural machinery park?

Ihor Shestopalov: The situation with spare parts is very difficult today. We have to wait for a part of the ordered items – we pay in advance and wait for the