Wheat Exporter Who Was Also One Of Ukraine's Richest People Killed In Russian Missile Attack In Mykolaiv, President Zelensky: Big Loss

Ukrainian officials evacuate a Russian missile after the attack on Mykolaiv. (Wikimedia Commons/State Emergency Service of Ukraine)

JAKARTA - A leading Ukrainian grain tycoon and exporter was killed in a missile attack by Russia targeting the southern Ukrainian port city of Mykolaiv.

Oleksiy Vadatursky, founder and owner of the agricultural company Nibulon, and his wife were killed in their home, Mykolaiv Governor Vitaliy Kim said on Telegram.

Headquartered in Mykolaiv, a strategically important city bordering most of Russian-occupied Kherson, Nibulon specializes in the production and export of wheat, barley and corn, and has its own fleet and shipyard.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described the death of wheat tycoon Vadatursky as a "huge loss for all of Ukraine". The president added that the entrepreneur - one of Ukraine's richest people with Forbes estimating his 2021 net worth of 430 million US dollars, has built a modern grain market with a network of terminals and transshipment lifts.

"These people, these companies, in southern Ukraine to be exact, have ensured world food security. This has always been so. And it will again be," Zelenskiy said in his evening address.

He added that Ukraine's social and industrial potential, "our people, our capabilities, are definitely stronger than any Russian missile or shell."

Separately, three people were also injured in the attack in Mykolaiv, Mayor Oleksandr Senkevych told Ukrainian television, adding 12 missiles hit homes and educational facilities.

Mayor Oleksandr Senkevych previously described the attack as "perhaps the most powerful" on the city of the entire five-month war.