Russia Is Targeting the Supply Chains That Feed Kyiv. Food Prices Could Be the Next Casualty.

Food is becoming harder to find on supermarket shelves in Kyiv as a new wave of Russian strikes targets the warehouses and logistics networks that keep Ukrainian cities supplied, raising fears that the war’s latest phase could increasingly hit civilians through their grocery bills.

According to a Guardian report, Russian attacks have damaged or destroyed food warehouses serving several of Ukraine’s largest supermarket chains, leaving partially empty shelves across the capital and forcing retailers to rethink how they store and distribute goods.

Logistics hubs used by all of Ukraine’s major supermarket chains, including Novus, ATB, Silpo and Fora, have either been destroyed or significantly damaged during recent Russian strikes.

Ukraine’s agrarian policy and food minister, Taras Vysotsky, described the attacks as something more significant than another round of wartime destruction. He said the targets themselves suggest an evolution in Russia’s campaign against Ukrainian infrastructure.

In 2022, Russia concentrated attacks on agricultural infrastructure connected to exports. Later, Ukraine’s energy system became a major target, bringing rolling blackouts and repeated efforts to repair power generation and distribution facilities.

The latest strikes, Vysotsky said, are increasingly hitting the domestic logistics system that allows Ukrainian cities to function. “The enemy is purposefully trying to destroy the logistics that provide Ukrainian cities with food,” he told the Guardian.

At some supermarkets in Kyiv, shoppers are finding partially empty shelves. Yet Ukraine is not necessarily running out of food. The more immediate problem is getting products from producers and importers through warehouses and distribution centers and eventually into stores.

Vysotsky has estimated that damage to warehouse infrastructure could increase food prices by around 2.5%. Some businesses believe the eventual cost could be substantially higher as companies are forced to redesign supply chains around the threat of future attacks.

Dmytro Krymskiy, co-founder of Bureau of Wine, which operates several retail businesses including Goodwine, told the Guardian that one of his warehouses near Kyiv was struck on September 1. About €4 million in inventory was destroyed.

It was the company’s third major warehouse loss since the full-scale invasion began. A strike in 2022 destroyed €15 million in supplies, while another attack in July caused losses of approximately €1.5 million.

For businesses such as Krymskiy’s, rebuilding the same way no longer makes much sense. The company is considering distributing products among several smaller warehouses, moving some storage to neighboring Poland or putting inventory underground. Each option could reduce the risk of losing enormous quantities of goods in a single strike, but each also adds complexity and cost.

Krymskiy estimates prices at his businesses could ultimately rise about 5%. The damage also reaches far beyond groceries. Russia has recently struck e-commerce logistics hubs and medical supply facilities.

One of the World Health Organization’s principal warehouses for humanitarian aid outside Kyiv was hit, according to the Guardian. Pharmaceutical company Biokon also said a warehouse attack destroyed three months of medicines and forced it to suspend operations.

All of this is happening amid another period of intense attacks on the Ukrainian capital. A temporary truce connected to the safe passage of U.S. negotiators ended Monday night, followed by renewed drone and ballistic missile strikes on Kyiv that killed two people.