Recently it became known that the so-called Donetsk People's Republic rejoices at the kidnapped trolleybuses from Mariupol. This was shown on Russian TV channels. But the theft of cars, playgrounds, and metal and grain crops went even further. This time, the Russian occupiers stole wild cherries from Melitopol.
Melitopol wild berry is known throughout Ukraine. It is sold throughout the country due to taste. In 2022, there is a good yield. However, the occupiers do not allow the export of crops to the territory of Ukraine. Russian authorities have set the price for sale inside the occupied territory at $2.5 per kilogram. Also, the pro-Russian government is trying to hire agricultural farms that grow cherries. But the occupiers do not want to pay for work.
"They robbed the farmers by taking the grain out of their storehouses, from the elevators. This robbery they almost completed. As for the berries themselves, the fact that a large amount is grown directly by small farmers, they are difficult to rob them all, because it is a lot of yards and they still have to be picked from the trees somehow. So they're willing to pay a penny to get the berries out of the tree. For the entire harvest, they are ready to give 10 hryvnias ($0.34) and no more," said the legitimate mayor of Melitopol.
It is worth noting that the cultivation of berries is most often engaged in the elderly.
But the occupiers and the pro-Russian authorities are not shy. They have already taken part of the harvest to the Crimean peninsula. Their television rejoices at the harvest and says that the residents of Kherson themselves are ready to supply wild cherries to the Crimea.
"Now, there is a harvest of cherries. The harvest succeeded. Held negotiations with the Crimean leadership and organized the unimpeded supply of cherries to the Crimea. Our colleagues from the Melitopol chamber of commerce and industry held talks with the markets of Moscow and Saint Petersburg, now the possibility of passage to this territory is being prepared, as the cherry — wild cherry is tender, there is a specificity of transportation," said the occupying so-called mayor of Melitopol Andrei Syhuta.
