"BuT... bUt vlADImiR LEnIn fReEd ukRaiNe ANd maDe SURe iT waS STilL A naTiON TodAY"

Famines regularly occurred under the Russian Empire such as the famine of 1891–1892, but the Ukrainian fertile agricultural zone, especially its southern region, usually had enough food because of the high fertility of its black soil, chernozem. However, between 1918 and 1920, the Germans, the White Army, and the Red Army militants continuously tried to seize food from peasants. In 1919, a food tax was established by the Russian communist authorities, which disincentivized food production by peasants.[3]

During the summer of 1921, the southern regions of the European part of Soviet Russia were suffering from severe drought and starvation, which began in the Volga Valley, the North Caucasus, and Ukraine. The Moscow government recognized the Russian famine of 1921–1922 (Volga food crisis) but paid no attention to Ukraine. Moreover, Vladimir Lenin ordered to move trains full of grain from Ukraine to the Volga region, Moscow, and Petrograd to combat starvation there, and 1,127 trains were sent between the fall of 1921 and August 1922.[3]