The scandal involving the theft of Ukrainian grain during the occupation of the Kherson region has continued. Regional council deputy Serhiy Sorokunsky, who was a member of the banned pro-Russian party “Bloc of Volodymyr Saldo”, was taken into custody without bail.
Law enforcement officers accuse him of aiding the occupiers, transferring food to the Russian army, and assisting in the illegal export of Ukrainian grain to temporarily occupied Crimea.
According to the Prosecutor General's Office, Sorokunsky, the owner of several farms in the Kherson region, supplied food to Russian military personnel in the village of Muzykivka in the spring of 2022. In addition, he transferred his winter wheat harvest to the occupation "Kherson Grain Company."
Moreover, the deputy helped the invaders seize the harvest from local farmers. He coordinated the forced harvesting of grain from Ukrainian fields, organized its transportation, and personally took care of the export of agricultural products to Crimea via Dzhankoy, from where the grain was planned to be transported abroad.
To move freely through the occupied territory, Sorokunsky received a “car pass” from the Russian administration, which granted him the special status of “federal advisor.”
The deputy was charged under two articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine:
- Aiding an aggressor state (Part 1, Article 111-2)
- Violation of the laws and customs of war (part 5 of article 27, part 1 of article 438)
The court agreed with the prosecutor's office's position and decided to keep the suspect in custody without bail.
The investigation is ongoing, and investigators are looking for other individuals involved in the appropriation and export of Ukrainian grain during the Russian occupation.
