1,000 chicks burned: how a UAV destroyed a farm in the Zaporizhzhia district

The owner of a farm in the village of Bilenke, Zaporizhzhia region, Serhii Prysiazhniuk was involved in the development of farming, in particular, he raised ducklings and chickens. On March 23, a Russian UAV hit his hangar, resulting in a fire that burned 1,000 chicks and agricultural machinery.

They spent about four hours trying to put out the flames and save the birds, says Serhiy. His neighbors helped him in this:

“The roof itself was burning very badly. The building was on fire, the upper windows and the fire was already pouring down, the tractor and everything inside began to burn. They started knocking down the flames here, and the firefighters arrived very quickly, it was very difficult because this is a technical building, the fire was very big.”

In the hangar, which burned down, there were 4 brooding rooms, where ducklings and chickens were raised up to one month old. The building also contained equipment for the production of fodder, construction materials and machinery, the farmer says:

“There were 300 ducks here, we drove another 100 a few days earlier, and there were 300 healthy ducks and about a hundred broilers left here. It was a shock for them, they did not eat for 2-3 days. Our two tractors, a fodder mixer, grinding equipment, there was a seed warehouse, 5 tons of corn grain, wheat, it all came into complete disrepair.”

Serhiy says that the farm was everything for their family. He says that, in addition to breeding birds, they planned to make a contact zoo here before the invasion, because they kept horses and ponies:

“We did it for ourselves at first, and then we saw that friends and acquaintances were interested. First of all, it was interesting to us because we wanted our children to eat good meat and communication with animals and poultry, it is relevant for children now.”

According to Serhiy, a week after the fire, they only had time to settle the birds, but they had not yet begun to dismantle the debris. When the investigation is completed, he plans to restore the farm in the future.