Food under control. How the occupation of Mariupol made southern Donetsk region dependent on Russia

Ukrainian supply chains were broken. Pre-war retail networks disappeared or resumed work under different names. Shop shelves were filled with Russian and Belarusian goods. Prices, delivery and even the ability to bring food to settlements around the city increasingly depend on Russian logistics, fuel and decisions by the occupation administration.

To an outside observer, Mariupol today may look like a city where shops are open and food is on the shelves. This is how the occupation authorities try to present "recovery". But food security is not a photograph of a supermarket shelf. It is about who controls roads, warehouses, suppliers, fuel, retail premises, prices and people's ability to buy a normal basket of food.

Legal guarantees of food security

According to the World Bank , food security means physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food. In occupied Mariupol, this access became vulnerable after 2022.

Russia replaced Ukraine's food supply system with a closed model dependent on Russian suppliers, routes, fuel and logistics.

Ukrainian supply chains were replaced by Russian ones

Before the full-scale war, Mariupol was part of Ukraine's economic space: food came from different regions, and retail chains, markets, depots and nearby farmers worked in the city. After the siege and capture in spring 2022, that system collapsed. Shops and warehouses were destroyed, businesses left, assets forced under new operators, and Russian goods began to dominate.

0629.com.ua reported that food and hygiene supplies effectively came under Russian companies' control and are brought through Russia's Rostov region and Krasnodar Krai. When Ukrainian chains, warehouses and routes are replaced by Russian ones, people lose alternatives and depend on a closed occupation system.

The SOC ACE / RUSI study "Looting Mariupol" says Russia's investments are accompanied by the illegal seizure of thousands of Ukrainian homes, businesses and assets. Food security also depends on property, warehouses, routes, fuel and trade permits.

Food is available, but access is getting worse

According to Novyny Donbasu, RIA Pivden and 0629.com.ua , in 2025 homemade milk in Mariupol cost about 100 Russian rubles per litre, eggs 150 rubles per dozen, cheese 250-300 rubles and sour cream 350 rubles. Residents say basic products became at least a quarter more expensive in 2026, making normal nutrition harder for pensioners and families with children.

Viktoria Sh., 58, has lived in Mariupol all her life. Before 2022, she bought food at the nearest market: village milk, farmers' eggs, meat once or twice a week. "I would not say we were rich, but we had enough. I could buy cheese, chicken, vegetables and still put something aside," she recalls.

After the occupation, part of the market stopped working, sellers left, and shops with Russian goods appeared. "Milk became more expensive and not what it used to be. Eggs too. I used to buy two or three dozen without thinking, and now I check whether it will be enough for the week," Viktoria says.

She now buys meat, vegetables and fruit much less often. "Before, I knew I could buy what I needed. Now I do not know what will happen tomorrow. That is the hardest thing," she says.

Fuel, roads and the port: logistics under occupation

In Mariupol, access to food is tied to logistics and fuel. The city depends on routes through Russia and the occupied south of Ukraine. In June, 0629 reported that a delivery service offered customers the option of giving a courier one litre of petrol instead of paying for delivery. In early July, A-92 and A-95 petrol rose to 150-170 rubles per litre.

Sources in occupied Donetsk region say roads are the main area of Russian investment for front-line logistics. SOC ACE / RUSI also describes Mariupol as a major logistics centre for the Russian army and illegal exports. "Oh, how well the Russians build roads," residents say. But these roads are part of military logistics, making civilians dependent on the front.

"The Russians have not been able to launch about 60% of the port equipment. There is simply not enough electricity to run the cranes," says Mykola D., who remains under occupation and worked as a docker before the invasion.

In 2026, Russia's Rosselkhoznadzor reported that between January and 8 June, 12 ships carrying nearly 90,000 tonnes of wheat departed from the port of Mariupol, bound for destinations including countries in Africa and Asia. The figures underscore a striking paradox: while grain from occupied Ukrainian territories continues to be exported through Mariupol, the city's own food supply has become increasingly dependent on imports from Russia, highlighting how occupation has transformed both local commerce and regional trade.

This dependence is even stronger in Manhush, Nikolske, Urzuf, Yalta, Yuriivka and Staryi Krym, where there are fewer shops, weaker competition and greater dependence on roads and fuel.

Before the war, Leonid and Nadiia from Nikolske kept a small farm and took milk, cheese, eggs, meat and vegetables to Mariupol every weekend. "We lived from that market," Leonid says. "People knew us and bought regularly."

After 2022, the farm survived, but their way of life disappeared. "We no longer go to Mariupol," Nadiia says. "There are checkpoints, inspections, documents. People have less money now and ask only for the cheapest products."

"We would spend money on petrol, stand there for half a day and return with almost the same goods. It used to be income; now it is a risk," Leonid says. They now sell mostly in Nikolske and nearby villages.

Dependence instead of stability

The example of Mariupol illustrates how occupation reshapes everyday life. Shops remain open, but under new ownership, different names, and with shelves increasingly stocked with Russian goods. The cost of deliveries has risen, while Russia's occupation of the port, once a key gateway for grain exports from Ukrainian territories, has stripped Ukraine of control over a critical piece of its export infrastructure, reducing export revenues and further weakening the country's economy. Russian occupation authorities present this as "normalisation". But from the point of view of food security, a dependent model is being formed, in which access to food is determined by external control. Formally, there are shops and products in the city. But stable access to food has been lost.