In the Kherson region, the community has lost 80% of its bee colonies due to Russian aggression

The full-scale war has dealt a devastating blow to beekeeping in the Novovorontsov community in the Kherson region. Before the Russian invasion, local beekeepers maintained about 2,000 bee colonies, but after the area was liberated, only about 400 remained.

This was reported by the Dutch newspaper Leeuwarder Courant, citing the Novovorontsov Town Military Administration.

Andriy Dobrozynskyi, the subject of the article and a member of a family of beekeepers, emphasized that bees provide nearly 80% of the pollination for agricultural crops. According to him, following the mass die-off of bees in 2022, certain plants have become much less common, and the yield of some crops has plummeted. In particular, the cherry harvest in 2023–2025 was approximately 20 times smaller than before the war.

After the start of the full-scale invasion, Novovorontsovka remained in the “gray zone” for a long time. Due to the occupation and hostilities, many beekeepers were unable to reach their apiaries or evacuate them to safe locations.

Andriy Dobrozyns’kyi said that before the war he had 200 bee colonies, but after the area was liberated, he found only 18 still alive.

“Of the two hundred colonies, only eighteen remained after liberation. It’s the same with bees as it is with cows and sheep: if you don’t take care of them, they die,” the beekeeper noted.

The beekeeper brothers Oleksandr and Ihor Mova also tried to move their hives farther away from the front lines, but it was too dangerous to do so because of the constant fighting.

Beekeeper Olena Brozdianska was also affected by the crisis. Of her 15 bee colonies, only six survived.

Beekeepers are now gradually rebuilding their apiaries, but because they must split the colonies to help them reproduce, honey production remains significantly lower than it was before the war.

Beekeepers today cite Russian drones as the greatest threat to their work .

“When you’re working among the bees, you can hardly hear a drone approaching. Its sound is very similar to the buzzing of a large swarm,” explained Andriy Dobrozinsky.

Despite the losses they’ve suffered, beekeepers in the Novovorontsov community are already working on creating their own honey brands and hope to develop bee tourism once the war ends. In particular, they plan to promote apitherapy—relaxing on special loungers above the hives and breathing in the healing air from the apiaries.

Андрій Колісніченко