Kherson community suffers 80% loss of bee colonies from conflict.

On August 2, 2026, the Kherson region's Novovorontsov community reported an 80% loss of its bee colonies due to the ongoing conflict. Prior to the Russian invasion, beekeepers in the area managed around 2,000 colonies, but only about 400 survived after liberation, according to the Dutch newspaper Leeuwarder Courant and the local Town Military Administration. Andriy Dobrozynskyi, a beekeeper, highlighted that bees are crucial for pollinating nearly 80% of agricultural crops, and their decline has severely impacted plant diversity and crop yields, particularly cherries, which saw a harvest reduction of about 20 times from pre-war levels.