The Ukrainian government has claimed that fighting has had a massive impact on grain production in the Black Sea state, a major wheat producer and exporter.

Fighting has intensified in recent days, as government troops have moved into areas held by pro-Russian separatists.

According to news agency Reuters, the conflict has jeopardised 15 percent of the country's cereal crop. Though tensions over the situation in the Ukraine have led to massive volatility in wheat prices this year, production had remained fairly constant even when revolution swept the country in February.

The International Grains Council had suggested that Ukraine could be the world's number two exporter in the 2014/15 crop year and forecasters elsewhere were still predicting a large harvest earlier in the week.

Reuters quoted the Ukrainian Prime Minister as lamenting the loss of crops during a meeting with farmers in central Ukraine on Tuesday. The Ukrainian harvest was set to top last year's record, before the current conflict erupted.

Harvest is underway in Ukraine. 34.7 million tonnes of cereals and legumes had been harvested over an area of 9.5 million hectares as of 15th August, according to the agriculture ministry; this includes 24.1mt of wheat and 9.3mt of barley.

The agriculture department said in a release last week that it had received harvest data from the East of the country, but that the situation "Remains complicated in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions," adding, "A certain percentage of fields in these areas continue to be dangerous for harvest."

In late July, there were reports that problems with infrastructure were hampering agricultural activities in the country