It’s time for Ukraine and its allies to “double down” on efforts to fight off Russia, the Ukrainian ambassador to the United States told the Des Moines Register on Tuesday. It was her first visit to Iowa, a trip that included touring the Iowa State Fair.

Ambassador Oksana Markarova, who’s been the Ukrainian ambassador to the U.S. since 2021, said doubling down would mean supplying Ukraine with the equipment, capabilities, missiles and weapons it says it needs, as well as applying sanctions to the Russian financial sector.

“So that they not only cannot produce faster and buy the spare parts (for weapons) from some of their allies, but they also will have additional challenges to sell their energy resources and everything else, which then brings dollars and euros and other currencies into Russia they then turn into weapons which are falling on kids and civilian infrastructure,” said Markarova.

Reuters reported on Monday that about $2.3 billion in dollar and euro bills have been shipped to Russia since March 2022, despites U.S. and European sanctions. NATO leaders at a summit in July in Washington, D.C. criticized China as being an “enabler” of Russia’s war. Iran and North Korea have also been supplying Russia with weapons and ammunition.

But beyond building continued support for military and economic aid to Ukraine, Markarova said she looked forward to growing connections with everyday Iowans and the state’s leaders during her visit — especially on agriculture.

Markarova said she loves being with people who grow their own food. “Maybe because my mom comes from a farmer’s family, there is a certain pride in seeing what you have grown yourself. You did it. You put all your soul — it’s not just hard work, you know, it’s a soul,” she said.

“Meeting with the governor and other officials at the fair is also when you see people you know as people, not just as functions or officials. And I really appreciate that. It’s when you really can connect and discuss,” she added.

Markarova’s activities at the fair on Tuesday included flipping pork chops with Gov. Kim Reynolds at the Iowa Pork Tent, sampling apple dishes from Des Moines Mayor Connie Boesen’s Applishus stand, and meeting with Republican U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst at the Sheep Barn. She was also to meet with Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig.

Markarova’s visit to Iowa was part of the “Whistlestops for Ukraine” tour organized by the German Marshall Fund of the United States, the Howard G. Buffett Foundation and Farm Journal.

The ambassador’s visit also included a conversation with the Greater Des Moines Sister Cities Commission at Des Moines City Hall and being a keynote speaker for the West Des Moines Rotary Club.

Boesen told the Register after visiting with Markarova that she has seen the ambassador on TV a lot and was glad to communicate with her in-person while showing her the best Iowa has to offer. It was an opportunity to “understand their struggles and understand we can all do better. Nobody should have to go through what they’re going through. And that’s not just their country,” Boesen said.

Markarova hoped seeds of agricultural cooperation and development can be planted with Iowa

Ukraine has succeeded in pushing back the Russian navy in the Black Sea to allow for agricultural exports — vital to Ukraine’s economy and the global food supply.

Agriculture accounted for 41% of Ukraine’s exports in 2021 and the nation has about a third of the world’s most fertile land, according to a briefing from the European Parliament in April 2024.

As a key producer of wheat, corn, sunflower and other agricultural commodities, Ukraine had been exporting 6 million tons of grain alone per month before Russia’s invasion in February 2022, according to Reuters.

The war caused major disruptions, but Ukraine had brought food exports back in July 2024 to more than 4.2 million metric tons — double what it had been in July 2023 and despite Russian attacks on Ukrainian sea and river ports, as well as blackouts from Russian attacks on the power grid, Reuters reported Monday.

But the European Parliament’s briefing also noted that by the end of 2023, Ukrainian agriculture had sustained $80 billion in damages and losses. Rebuilding agriculture would cost more than $56 billion and removing landmines from Ukraine’s fields would cost an additional $32 billion.

Markarova said Tuesday that the U.S. and Ukraine’s agricultural economies do not compete with one another’s, but are complementary. “So, a number of developments here, in biotech and in agricultural machinery and everything else could really be helpful, because this is what we need now, and this is where we can put joint efforts together in order to produce more,” she said.

She said Ukraine also could become a global leader in fertilizer production, benefiting farmers in the U.S. and around the world. And there could be opportunities for Iowan and Ukrainian universities to collaborate, and for Iowa companies to continue to invest in Ukraine and form partnerships, she added.

Sen. Ernst told the Register at the Iowa State Fair on Tuesday, ahead of meeting with Markarova, that Iowa working together with Ukraine on agriculture is “very important. So, whether it’s a pot ash issue, whether it is anything to do with seed corn, we provide a lot of those supplies into Ukraine.”

“But beyond the agricultural side of it, the munitions that are produced at the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant, the 155 (mm) is one of the main rounds that they use in the Ukrainian war against Russia. So, we’re able to support as Iowans through that as well,” Ernst added.

Markarova said Ernst — who was part of a bipartisan delegation, also including Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District Rep. Ashley Hinson, that visited Ukraine in April 2024 — understands “the importance of putting (up) a fight when an autocratic, aggressive regime attacks a peaceful nation.”

More: The artillery shells Ukraine is firing at Russia? Many are made in Iowa; more on the way

Markarova looks ahead to U.S. aid after the November presidential election

Markarova said Ukraine counts on U.S. military support. And even though she said Europe gives more economic support, U.S. economic aid is still needed, “especially in the energy area, and some budget support, in order to be able to address quickly the challenges of today, so that we can get back on our feet as soon as possible.”

There’s uncertainty about the future of U.S. aid, however, depending on the outcome of the U.S. presidential election in November.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the British Broadcasting Corporation in an interview in July that working with Donald Trump, if he were to be re-elected, would be “hard work, but we are hard workers.” Zelenskyy spoke with the BBC before President Joe Biden dropped out of the race and Biden endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic Party’s nominee.

More: GRAPHICS STORY: How much do NATO allies really spend on defense?

Markarova told the Register on Tuesday that no matter the outcome in November’s election, “We really have strong bipartisan support. We really need this strong bipartisan support, because the values for which we are fighting, they’re not values of one party or another, they are American values.”

“If someone is skeptical or someone disagrees, it’s not a problem. It just means that we have to work harder, and we have to explain more, and we have to share and discuss, because this is what friends do among (themselves), and I know that the U.S. is our strategic friend, regardless of which party people support,” Markarova said.

Zelenskyy said in an address over the weekend, amid Ukraine’s ongoing surprise cross-border attack into Russia’s Kursk state, that “We look forward with great anticipation to decisions on long-range capabilities” from the U.S., United Kingdom and France.

He said those would be “strong decisions that will bring a just peace closer.”

More: Maps: Ukraine’s incursion into Russia forces Moscow to make an important decision

Markarova said she could not disclose information that would jeopardize operational security in answering a question about what such long-range capabilities are that Ukraine is asking for, but said, “the longer range they are, the faster we can actually deny Russia the possibility to conduct this (war).”

The whistlestops tour — named after a similar effort in 1948 by then-President Harry S. Truman to promote the Marshall Plan for rebuilding Europe after World War II — launched in November 2023 and has already visited Minnesota, Missouri, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania. There are plans to continue on to Colorado in September, Ohio in October and Kentucky in November.

Phillip Sitter covers the western suburbs for the Des Moines Register. Phillip can be reached via email at psitter@gannett.com or on X at @pslifeisabeauty.