Despite the war, Russians consistently reap high crop yields from the occupied territories
In June 2023, Russian troops blew up the dam of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant (HPP), destroying the reservoir that supplied water to 70% of Ukraine's irrigated areas. Most of this land was located in the Kherson region, which is currently under Russian occupation. At the same time, there are regular media reports of water shortages in Donetsk and other occupied cities. Texty.org.ua investigated whether the water crisis is affecting agriculture in the occupied territories. The short answer is no.
SUMMARY
- Despite the destruction of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant and the loss of a key irrigation source, satellite data does not show a sharp decline in agricultural production in the occupied territories.
- Wheat crop areas between 2023 and 2025 remain almost unchanged, except the occupied Kherson region, where the likely reduction could exceed 20%.
- The shift of the front line towards Ukraine has led to a partial resumption of land cultivation in the deeper rear line of the occupied territories, particularly in the Luhansk region.
For example, in 2023, Russians sowed wheat on 1.63 million hectares (4 million acres) in Ukraine, and in 2025, on 1.59 million hectares (3.9 million acres).
This data was provided to us by our partners, the agricultural technology company OneSoil, which uses satellite imagery and machine learning to remotely determine the boundaries of fields and the crops grown on them. Previously, together with OneSoil, we published an article on how much Russia earned from stolen Ukrainian grain in the first years of the full-scale war.
Wheat and sunflower crop areas in the occupied territories
Calculations based on satellite monitoring of the Earth
Data: OneSoil
Wheat
2022 
2023 
2024 
2025 Sunflower
2022 
2023 
2024 
2025 Approximate estimate of harvested crops
Calculations based on average data from the State Statistics Service
Data: OneSoil
The predominance of winter varieties essentially ensures the stability of wheat crops. They use winter moisture reserves, and the critical phase of their development ends before the period of summer droughts and high temperatures.
Sunflowers have slightly different dynamics. There is a slight, gradual decline in crop yields over the years, but it is insignificant. Sunflowers are Ukraine's second-largest crop in terms of crop area, sown in April-May. In 2023, 1.1 million hectares (2.7 million acres) of sunflowers were planted in the occupied territories, and in 2025, 0.93 million hectares (2.3 million acres).
Nataliia Kussul, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor, Head of the Department of Mathematical Modeling and Data Analysis at the Institute of Physics and Technology, National Technical University of Ukraine “Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute” (NTUU KPI), explains that in 2024–2025, a gradual recovery of agriculture began in the territories occupied by Russia. According to her, a similar situation was observed earlier in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Immediately after the occupation in 2014, there was a rapid decline, followed by a gradual recovery.
Destruction of the Kakhovka HPP
The destruction of the Kakhovka Reservoir has affected crops in the occupied Kherson region. For example, satellite images show that the destruction of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant has led to a reduction in crop areas in the occupied Kherson region.
