Ukraine and Lincolnshire sign farming agreement

A leader from one of Ukraine's most war-torn regions has visited Lincolnshire and signed an agreement to work with the county's agricultural businesses.

Oleksandr Prokudin, governor of Ukraine's Kherson Oblast province, was welcomed in Lincoln on Thursday.

He said the agreement - a Memorandum of Understanding on future collaboration - was "about moral support to the region".

Councillor Colin Davie, from Lincolnshire County Council, said it was "the first step" in establishing a new relationship to help rebuild the country.

Kherson, a province in southern Ukraine, has seen intense fighting since the Russian invasion.

The city of Kherson was seized by Russian troops and then retaken in the same year.

Speaking through an interpreter, Prokudin said "our region is now more than 70 percent occupied" and that "Russians are hunting people with drones".

He signed the agreement with Davie at the county council headquarters in Lincoln and also visited the University of Lincoln's Riseholme campus, which is home to the Lincoln Institute for Agri-Food Technology (LIAT), as well as the Siemens factory.

Davie said he hopes Lincolnshire's farming and food businesses, in particular, would be able to share the latest research, innovations and technology to "help the Kherson agricultural region" and may sign deals in the future.

"This opens up economic opportunities and builds on our friendship with that region," said Davie.

"Agriculture, energy, heavy manufacturing are in Lincolnshire in abundance and the Kherson region is very similar."

It comes as Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is about to arrive at the White House for talks with US president Donald Trump on Ukraine and defence.

When asked what he would like to say to both leaders, Prokudin said Europe "has to wake up" and claimed "Putin will not stop with Ukraine".

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