Ukrainian agriculture minister submits resignation - aide
Ukrainian Agriculture Minister Roman Leshchenko has submitted his resignation, an aide told Reuters on Thursday, without stating a reason.
The aide, who declined to be named, said parliament would vote on whether to accept the resignation, possibly as soon as Thursday.
Leshchenko's resignation had been reported by APK-Inform consultancy earlier on Thursday, four weeks since Russia invaded Ukraine, starting a war that has affected spring crop sowing and Ukraine's ability to export agricultural products.
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Leshchenko told Reuters in an interview this week that Ukraine's spring crop sowing area may more than halve this year from 2021 levels to some 7 million hectares, versus 15 million hectares expected before the Russian invasion.
Ukraine is a major global agriculture producer and exporter, and the hostilities may sharply reduce the 2022 harvest and exports in the forthcoming 2022/23 season.
Ukraine has already suspended exports of rye, oats, millet, buckwheat, salt, sugar, meat and livestock since the invasion, and introduced licences for wheat, corn and sunflower oil exports.
