Iurii Mykhailov is an agricultural journalist from Ukraine. During the annual meeting of ENAJ in Umbria, Italy, he was interviewed by Katharina Seuser from the German Guild of Agricultural Journalists VDAJ about the situation of civilians, farmers, agricultural journalists, and media in Ukraine.
Interview with Iurii Mykhailov, 7th of October, 2024
KS: You are living in Kyiv, which is not a fighting area. How is daily life and the situation for the people there?
IM: At the moment, Kyiv might be the safest city in Ukraine – we are protected by a multilayered antimissile system. The whole of Ukraine is affected by frequent attacks, from the West to the East, but in other cities, there is not such a good defence. The people are tired of the war, as is the case in Kyiv. Many citizens don’t react anymore to alerts; they just go on with their daily lives. This is also due to the lack of shelters and the poor equipment. In Kyiv, mostly underground street crossings and subway stations serve as shelters. They are of limited capacity – the subway system is not as well developed as in Berlin, London or Paris – and there are no seats, no toilets, no water. They are windy, and the situation will be worse in the winter …
KS: You are mentioning the winter. We have learned that the strategy of Putin is to destroy the energy infrastructure to wear down the resistance of the Ukrainian people. Are you afraid of next winter?
IM: Yes, I am. The winter will make things more severe. The Russians have destroyed all coal and gas plants, and now, the electricity comes mostly from nuclear power plants, which don’t provide the electricity needed. We have to deal with daily outages for several hours – the Ukrainian authorities are warning that they could last up to 20 hours a day in the coming winter. The people living in multistorey houses are particularly affected: Elevators and electric ovens don’t function; there will be no water supply on the upper floors and electrical heating, and this will deteriorate the situation of elderly people and women with small children …
Agricultural journalist from Ukraine – Iurii Mykhailov
KS: The situation is disastrous for the civilians – especially for the weakest ones – how are farmers affected?
IM: The biggest problem is the contamination of agricultural land with mines. There are calculations that the demining will take several hundred years (Source: Report “Russia’s war on Ukraine: Environmental impact”, page 23.). According to the press centre of the Ukrainian parliament, 128 Ukrainian farmers have died since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion from explosive devices like mines. The second biggest problem is the shortage of labour in agriculture. Many farm workers – for example, male mechanical operators – work as soldiers. Many women with children left Ukraine. That’s also why agricultural companies try to attract female employees today. And – of course – there is a massive amount of damaged and destroyed agricultural machinery.
Click here and download: Iurii's speech about situation in Ukraine
KS: What is the situation with agricultural journalists?
IM: The situation of agricultural journalists is very poor. First of all, because of economic reasons for the agricultural media, income from advertisements has dropped significantly. Most media houses have stopped producing print media and have reduced employee numbers. They only publish online. More than 230 media outlets closed during the full-scale war. One example is the newspaper “День” (The Day). Another example is Poltava regional newspaper “Козельщинські вісті” (The Kozelshchyna News). Among agriculture media “AgroNik”, “Аналітичне Агентство AGRICULTURE” (The analytical agency Agriculture), “Вісник фермер України” (The Ukrainian Farmer Herald”), “Село полтавське” (The Poltava village), and “Агросвіт” (The world of agriculture) stopped working. Media is also affected by the shortage of qualified employees – like many other businesses and agriculture. Journalists are mostly working remotely, and the outages of electricity are affecting their work …
KS: The current situation seems desperate. Do you still have hope, and what do you think about peace negotiations?
IM: If this war of fatigue goes on for a long time, Ukraine will capitulate because the Russian economy is stronger than ours, and Russia’s population is four to five times bigger. (Remark IM from 14th of October: The latest news is the arrival of North Korean troops in Ukraine.) That’s why Ukraine is asking for more weapons and permission to use them also on Russian territory. In my opinion, only military strength can stop the Russian aggression. I think that peace based on negotiations will not last for a long time. Russia has already integrated five Ukrainian regions into its constitution, of which only one, namely, Crimea, is completely occupied by Russia, and even if there were an agreement today, Russia would insist in the future that these regions are part of its territory.
KS: Thank you for sharing your insights and opinions with us. On behalf of all colleagues of the ag journalist community – in ENAJ and beyond – I wish you and Ukraine an end to this terrible situation as soon as possible.
About Iurii Mykhailov
Iurii Mykhailov holds a degree of MS (Tech.) in the Industrial Heat Engineering from Kiev National Technical University, he has worked for 11 years in a sugar company and during the past 30 years he has worked for different agricultural magazines. ). From 1996-1997 he was trained by the Economic Research Service of the USDA and was certified as the Agriculture markets analyst. He is living in Kiev and since Russia’s invasion on February 23 in 2022, he has frequently reported on the situation and the consequences for the people and agriculture in Ukraine.
ENAJ management committee with Iurii Mykhailov in Umbria, Italy. Photo by: Stefan Nimmervoll
Klaus Schumacher and Katharina Seuser from the German Guild of Agricultural Journalists VDAJ have privately sponsored Iurii Mikhailov’s participation in the ENAJ AGM in Umbria.