cool, i actually took a look around to make sure i wasn't talking out of my ass--the ukraine is 56% arable, russia's slightly under 7%. for reference, the us, france,and germany are all between 20-30% and have more irrigation despite russia's being 2x our size.

the motherland's always had problems eating in the winters and during the soviet era leaned on the ukraine and a few others which i'd guess to be hungary and poland pretty hard for grain production since they're all among the top countries for potentially making it. whenever you saw images or clips of anything farming-related, it always seemed to be outside of russia proper. they're good for various rocks and fossil fuels, but you've gotta assume it hurt them to lose their supermarket territories.

i can't even keep track of what country is what and i was probably 11 when it all broke up, i just remembered russia having problems making food to be such a recurring deal.