During the 20-year ban on farm land sales, Ukraine’s state has lost the equivalent of “almost two Crimean peninsulas,” to land thefts by “businessmen and politicians,”

President Zelenskiy said yesterday at Ukraine 30, a land forum. About 5 million hectares of state land moved illegally into private hands, he said. Crimea’s territory is 2.7 million hectares. During the land sale moratorium, 7 million rural residents were deprived of full ownership rights, and 1 million died, often in poverty, unable to sell their land, he said.