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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian forces fired dozens of rockets and missiles at the southern city of Mykolaiv over the weekend, killing agricultural magnate Oleksiy Vadaturskyi.
Vadaturskyi owns Nibulon, which exported more than 5.6 million tons of wheat, barley, corn and other agricultural products to 38 countries last year.
His wife Raisa was also killed in the shelling, said Zelenskyy.
“Exactly such people, such companies, our Ukrainian south guaranteed the food security of the world. It’s been like that forever. And that will be the case again, ”said Zelenskyy on Sunday.
“The Russian terrorists shouldn’t even hope that they can destroy Ukraine’s social and industrial potential and walk through the ruins.”
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Nibulon confirmed Vadaturskyi’s death on Saturday and said the businessman remained in his native Mykolaiv to help the city after Russia invaded earlier this year.
“The entire 7,000-strong team of the NIBULON company and all of Ukraine suffered an irreparable loss,” the company said in a statement.
A combine harvester drives across a wheat field during a harvest for the Nibulon agricultural company in Nikolaev, Ukraine. (Vincent Mundy/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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Both Russia and Ukraine supply grain to the world, raising the possibility of war-induced food insecurity.
Countries agreed last week to allow the safe passage of ships transporting grain from southern Ukrainian ports. Zelenskyy said on Friday that Ukraine is ready to release its first shipment of grain from the Odessa region.
Paul Best is a reporter for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to [email protected] and on Twitter: @KincaidBest.