Last week, Valentin Pavlenko loaded two tipper trucks with grain from his farm in southern Ukraine. The high-stakes standoff over grain that is escalating tensions in the Black Sea and raising worries over the global food supply is also creating challenges for farmers across southern Ukraine. Not only must Mr. Pavlenko and others like him find alternate shipping points, but they also have to worry about whether they are secure. Mr. Pavlenko’s farm had already donated some of its trucks to the military. But when the Russians struck Reni, too, last week, the farmers’ collective he belonged to scrambled to collect money to buy three flatbed trucks for the Ukrainian army, so they could install air defense systems that would protect the Danube ports.

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Persons: Valentin Pavlenko, Pavlenko, Pavlenko’s, Reni Locations: Ukraine, Odesa, Reni, Russia