One of the richest men in Ukraine was killed, along with his wife, in what officials say was a targeted strike on their home during Russian shelling of the city of Mykolaiv. A missile hit the home of Oleksiy Vadatursky, a grain tycoon, overnight, the BBC reported Sunday. It "was not an accident, but a well-thought-out and organized premeditated murder," a presidential adviser says, per the AP. "Vadatursky was one of the largest farmers in the country, a key person in the region and a major employer. That the exact hit of a rocket was not just in a house, but in a specific wing, the bedroom, leaves no doubt about aiming and adjusting the strike."
Vadatursky's "contribution to the development of the agricultural and shipbuilding industry, the development of the region is invaluable," says the leader of the region. The 74-year-old, owner of the grain production and export company Nibulon, had once received the "Hero of Ukraine" award. The disruption of Ukraine's grain exporting has caused food prices to increase around the globe, and President Volodymyr Zelensky says Russia's invasion of the country has put Ukraine's grain harvest in danger of being half as large this year as it typically is. He says Ukraine is working to export what it has to stave off a global food crisis; the UN brokered an agreement between Ukraine and Russia last week aimed at resuming grain exports. (More Ukraine stories.)