As Russian bombs and missiles fall around sheep farmer Grygoriy Minich, at Zhytomyr, 100 miles west of Kyiv, Ukraine, he has turned his efforts from his flock to fighting the invasion. Close to the battle front with Russia, Grygoriy has only enough feed for the next month then lambing is due to start. All will be committed to the war effort he says with the farm providing meat and supplies for the military in an effort to free their country.

Grygoriy spoke to The Scottish Farmer's Gordon Davidson and John Sleigh early this morning, to describe the situation facing his family, business and country...

 

My name is Grygoriy Minich and I am a sheep farmer in Ukraine. I have had sheep for only for a year and half now. We started with 200 Merinolandshaf breed ewes and 53 Romanv ewes. Now we have 450 total sheep at our farm.

We are situated 16km north of Zhytomyr which was very convenient for me. I could live in the city and visited the farm every day. It only took ten mins to get there. Now because of the war it takes up to one hour.

Are you and your family safe?

Well, my kids and my ex wife lived in Kyiv but we managed to take them out on February 25th. At the start of the war we got them out on the second day. In the beginning I took them here beside the farm then they took my car to my fathers house which 265km west then two days later they went to Poland. So now they are now safe, thanks to God.

But my parents and brother are still living in the region. At the beginning of the day and the end of every day we just call each other, my parents, my brother and my friends, to just check everyone is still alive.

At this stage the interview was interrupted by Grygoriy’s phone which issued a warning that there were missiles flying nearby

How far away are you from the fighting at the moment?

We have fighting here in Zhytomyr. We have bombings in schools, in residential premises, we have some people that are dead already. There is a huge amount of Russian military soldiers who were killed about 60km away from here. So my day now begins by connecting with army forces to check in and see what can I help them. I am trying to provide them with water, clothing and food. We have donated our supplies of concrete to the army to allow them to built military posts.

Farming is not the first issue anymore.

On the second day of the war I offered to join the military but they declined to take me and to provide me with weapons. Because they have too so many people trying to sign up to fight. Russians were not ready for for the number of Ukrainains who are ready to fight. Thanks to God there are a lot of people who are ready to take weapons and to fight against Russia. We are ready.

On the same day I contacted the military to provide them with meat. But they don't need a lot of fresh or frozen meat they need it in cans. But we don’t have in our region the production line. They are taking a little fresh meat which can be prepared immediately for the military.

How is the farm coping with the war?

Farming is not the first issue for me every day. We have saved enough hay to last the winter. But I hope the war is over in one month because if not, we don’t know what to with the animals.

We are afraid we will lose electricity because without it we wont be able to provide animals with water. As you know better than me, it is final for animals if you don’t provide them with water. Between me and my partner we have decided if this happens then we will not have any other option than to release the animals into nature.

So we don’t know what will be next. One of the options will be to slaughter all the animals on the farm for meat for the military if they need them.

Are any of the animals pregnant or going to give birth soon?

We expect the next births in a month. The Merinolandshaf breed can lamb three times in two years. The last batch for lambing was six weeks ago so we have some small lambs and ram lambs on the farm.

How are the staff on the farm?

We have our employees live in the same village as the farm. Their regular day is working on the farm in the morning, only feeding animals not any other work. After that they go to the military post. They stay there for five hours, and after that they rest. That is every day, every day, every day.

So you can not plan for the future?

No we can not. You need to understand in Ukraine we need the United States and the European Union to help us by protecting the skies. This is only support we need in the Ukraine.

All the world now knows the Ukrainians are one of the best fighters in the world. But we just lack weapons. If we have protected skies we will defeat the Russians on the ground in a very short period. I am sure of that.

But it is politics, I cant say anything more.

Do you have a message for the readers of The Scottish farmer?

First of all I wish you peace in your country. Without peace you can not even take care your animals. Second I hope that war will end soon and victory for Ukrainian.

At the same time it would be great to join with Scottish farmers. Because Scotland has a long tradition of sheep farming but we do not have that in Ukraine. We don’t have sheep veterinarians and we don’t even know what to do with some maternity issues. So if you can help us with that it would be very great for us. If we could visit your farms and look at how your deal with you animals. We would invite your famers to us and see how we do this in an exchange. We hope very soon Ukraine will be part of the European Union and it will be easier to come to the Scotland. But again, peace to you.