The time of great pests has come. Locust plagues are becoming annual events

Locusts swarmed the fields of Ukrainian farmers like a genie out of a bottle. In three weeks of July 2025, the voracious insects covered more than 700 km. In a single day of the locust plague, 30 hectares of grain were destroyed in Kherson region. A few days later, the insect infestation reached the steppes of Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk regions. A special regime has been in effect there for three weeks, covering an area of almost 22,000 hectares. This week, locusts appeared in Kharkiv region and even in Lviv region.

"Currently, the conditions are almost ideal for an invasion of locusts and other harmful insects," Professor Mykola Dolya, corresponding member of the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences, told LIGA.net. "Such plagues could become annual events." In frontline areas, the land has not been cultivated for three years, and no one is fighting pests. "There is no agrochemical impact on the ecosystems," the professor explains, "And the climatic conditions in the south, and in some places in the east, are ideal for locusts – high temperatures and periodic rains."

Locusts destroy pastures and agricultural crops. The insects prefer succulent plants; currently, their focus is on sunflowers, corn, soybeans, and fruit and vegetable crops. says the product manager Ukravit's correspondent, Iryna Usova, investigated the issue of insecticides. Can pests be stopped in Ukraine LIGA.net.