One Missile Shook Ukraine’s Grain Trade. Another Might Kill It
Oleksiy Vadaturskyy tried to find a permanent fix to Russia’s hold over grain exports out of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, and it made him a target.
Andriy Vadaturskyy
Photographer: Julia Kochetova/BloombergAndriy Vadaturskyy was in France when he got the call he’d long feared: A Russian missile had destroyed his parents home in southern Ukraine, killing his mother. For three impossibly long hours he held out hope for his father, the revered founder of one of Ukraine’s largest agricultural businesses, but then he too was found dead under the rubble.
“I kissed my kids and drove to Ukraine,” said Vadaturskyy, in his first interview since the July 31 attack that saw him take over within days as Nibulon Ltd.’s owner and chief executive. “I was driving and crying. I did not know I could cry for so long.”