How Bayer is expanding its seed plant in Ukraine

Pochuiky, Kyiv Volodymyr Onishchenko only needs a few steps from the exit of the factory building to the bunker. Outside, a small gravel path leads underground, behind the heavy door there is a long room equipped with benches, a water dispenser, heat lamps.

His company has built several makeshift bunkers and shelters on the site since Russia began attacking the entirety of Ukraine in February 2022. “Instead of these temporary solutions, we will soon be able to use permanently installed bunkers,” explains Onishchenko.

Onishchenko manages Bayer’s corn seed plant in Pochuiky, Ukraine, about a two-hour drive south-west of the capital Kiev. As with other companies, the rule here is: All employees must go to shelters as soon as the air raid alarm sounds.