- September 28, 2026
- 1:37 pm
- World News
After the Russian strike on September 5, 2026, one of Ukraine’s largest ice cream producers lost a refrigerated warehouse covering 4,350 square meters. On the night of September 28, a food industry enterprise in Zhytomyr was attacked again. This story has a direct connection to Israel: Zhytomyr’s ‘Rud’ has been working with a local importer for years, producing products specifically for the Israeli market, including kosher items. The scale of trade is quite significant — in 2024 alone, Israel purchased over 1,163 tons of Ukrainian ice cream for $5.12 million.
Author: Pavel Shveiko
On September 28, 2026, Russian drones attacked a food enterprise in the Zhytomyr community — an administrative community in northwestern Ukraine, about 140 kilometers from Kyiv. A fire started after the impact. According to Vitaliy Bunechko, head of the Zhytomyr Regional Military Administration, rescuers extinguished the fire, and there were no casualties or injuries reported.
In the initial report from regional authorities, the name of the enterprise was not specified. Meanwhile, just 23 days earlier, on September 5, a Russian drone had already destroyed the refrigeration complex of the ‘Rud’ company in the same Zhytomyr. This fact was confirmed by the manufacturer itself, and details of the destruction became known on September 26. Whether the new attack directly relates to the same enterprise still requires separate official confirmation.
For Israelis, the name ‘Rud’ may be more familiar than it seems. It is a Ukrainian producer of ice cream, glazed ice cream, and frozen desserts, working with the Israeli company Diler B.M.D. International. Its products are found in local retail chains, including under brands that consumers do not necessarily associate with Ukraine.
What happened on September 5: an entire refrigeration complex was destroyed
The scale of the first strike was described by the head of the company’s legal department, Olga Blazhkevich. A Russian drone hit a refrigerated warehouse on the southeastern outskirts of Zhytomyr. The warehouse and administrative facilities, totaling 4,350 square meters, were completely destroyed.
Inside were finished products, loading equipment, and machinery. The enterprise lost all of this. After the impact, a fire broke out, which was extinguished by rescuers, and the company began calculating the material damage.
For an ice cream factory, the refrigeration complex is part of the production process, without which it is impossible to properly ship finished goods. Ice cream must be stored and transported at a set negative temperature. Even if the production lines themselves survived, the loss of storage capacity can complicate the accumulation of batches and fulfillment of orders.
How many tons of finished ice cream were destroyed and what portion of the products were intended for foreign buyers, the enterprise has not yet reported.
Against this backdrop, the report of a new attack on September 28 raises separate questions. Zhytomyr authorities confirmed the impact on a civilian food industry facility, the fire, and the work of the SES — the Ukrainian service performing functions comparable to Israeli fire and rescue units. The scale of the new damage is still being clarified.
‘Rud’ — the producer of every third ice cream in Ukraine
Behind the brand name stands JSC ‘Zhytomyr Butter Plant’. It is one of the largest Ukrainian producers of frozen products, operating under the ‘Rud’ brand since 1998.
The company estimates its share of the Ukrainian ice cream market at about 30%. Its products are presented in more than 75,000 retail outlets, and its export geography covers over 36 countries.
The enterprise processes more than 35,000 tons of milk annually. In addition to ice cream, it produces frozen vegetables, berries, dough, semi-finished products, and dairy products. Among foreign sales channels, the company lists European retail chains Lidl, Kaufland, REWE, Aldi, Tesco, Carrefour, and Metro.
Financial indicators also provide an idea of the scale of the business. According to YouControl data cited in publications about the warehouse destruction, revenue for the first half of 2026 amounted to about 2.5 billion hryvnias, with a profit of 245.5 million.
Thus, the September strike hit not a small local workshop. The infrastructure of a large export producer, whose work is connected with international food trade, was damaged.
Israeli partner: ice cream from Zhytomyr under local brands
‘Rud’ has long-standing business relations with Diler B.M.D. International — an Israeli importer and distributor of food products, registered in Rishon LeZion, a city south of Tel Aviv.
In its own catalog, Diler directly lists Rud among the represented ice cream brands alongside Yukki, Svalya, Dadu, Nicey, and Delice. The company supplies dry, chilled, and frozen products and works with Israeli retail.
Here is an interesting detail explaining why not all buyers recognize the Ukrainian producer by the packaging.
Even before the full-scale war, the Zhytomyr Butter Plant signed a contract with the Israeli customer for the production of ice cream according to provided recipes and under its brands. This scheme is called private label: one manufacturer produces the product, and it is sold under the customer’s brand.
In 2023, ‘Rud’ publicly explained the features of this cooperation after discussions about ice cream called ‘Leningradskoye’. According to the enterprise, the corresponding trademark belonged to the Israeli customer, the product was produced exclusively for them, and after the start of the full-scale Russian invasion, production under that name ceased.
However, cooperation with the Israeli market continued. Just open the Diler B.M.D. ice cream catalog, where Rud is still listed today.
What can be found in Israeli stores
The assortment is not limited to regular vanilla ice cream. In Israeli product catalogs, you can find Rud, Coolwich, Eskimos, Impruda, and De Fruda — from family packs to ice cream sandwiches, glazed eskimo, and fruit desserts.
For example, Coolwich is presented in a pack of four portions of 80 grams each. Offers for this product are found in the catalogs of ‘Shufersal’, Carrefour, and ‘Hatzin Hinam’. ‘Rud’ ice cream is also available in family packs of 500 grams and one kilogram. Some items also appear in the offers of Yohananof, City Market, and ‘Tiv Taam’.
However, the presence of a product in the Israeli price database does not guarantee that it is currently available in every branch of the network.
Kosher products deserve special attention. Export descriptions include items with Kosher and Israel Kosher designations. For certain products in Israeli catalogs, Triangle K — משולש K is indicated.
Here is a nuance not understood by every reader, even those living in Israel. Certification of a specific batch does not automatically apply to everything the enterprise produces. The designation חלבי means a dairy product, and information about the use of non-Jewish milk powder — אבקת חלב נכרי — has separate significance for those who observe the corresponding kashrut requirements.
Thus, the Israeli assortment is not just imported ready-made. Part of the products is adapted to local trade and religious requirements.
This is not the only example of how Ukrainian gastronomy is represented in the Israeli market. In November 2024, the GOLDA network released special ice cream with the taste of ‘Kyiv Cake’ for Aliyah Day — an Israeli holiday of repatriation.
More about this was told by NANews in the article ‘The Taste of “Kyiv Cake” in GOLDA: How the Israeli Ice Cream Network Celebrated Ukrainian Repatriates’.
More than a thousand tons of ice cream per year: how much Israel buys from Ukraine
The scale of Ukrainian presence in Israeli imports can be assessed not by individual store offers, but by international customs statistics.
According to World Integrated Trade Solution (WITS), using UN Comtrade data, in 2024 Israel imported 1,163,440 kilograms of ice cream and other frozen desserts from Ukraine. The cost of these supplies amounted to $5.121 million.
The entire Israeli import of products in this category for the year reached 10,320 tons for $45.425 million. Consequently, Ukraine accounted for 11.27% of imported ice cream by weight and almost the same by cost. Among individual supplier countries, Ukraine ranked second after Italy. It was followed by Belarus, Spain, and the Netherlands.
On the Ukrainian side, the figures differ slightly: exports to Israel for 2024 were declared at 1,211.83 tons and $4.07 million. Differences may arise due to customs accounting features, timing of operation registration, and product valuation.
But there is a significant clarification. All the figures provided relate to the HS 210500 commodity category — the international customs code for ice cream and other frozen desserts. The statistics include products from all Ukrainian producers, not just ‘Rud’.
NANews — Israel News | Nikk.Agency separately checked this issue: the exact annual volume of supplies from the Zhytomyr Butter Plant to Israel, as well as its percentage share in the entire local ice cream market, is not published in available open data. It is not possible to attribute all 1,163 tons to the company just because it is a major Ukrainian exporter.
Moreover, 11.27% is Ukraine’s share in imports. It does not account for ice cream produced in Israel itself, including products from local enterprises Strauss/Unilever and Nestlé/Osem.
Meanwhile, Israeli buyers have been receiving Ukrainian ice cream for several years. Its supplies are confirmed by statistics, contractual relationships, and the presence of products in retail.
Could the destruction of the warehouse affect Israeli supplies?
Such a risk exists, but there are no confirmed reports of ‘Rud’ stopping exports to Israel yet.
For an export producer, the destruction of a warehouse means the need to find new refrigeration capacities, redistribute finished products, and possibly adjust shipping schedules. When working with private labels of the customer, the situation is more complicated: it is necessary to consider agreed recipes, packaging, labeling, and certification.
The Israeli importer Diler B.M.D. works with frozen products and has its own logistics infrastructure. But the capabilities of the Israeli distributor do not replace the production and storage facilities in Zhytomyr.
How much ice cream was destroyed on September 5, what portion was intended for foreign buyers, and whether the destruction affected specific Israeli contracts, the enterprise has not publicly clarified.
Therefore, it is premature to talk about an impending shortage of Ukrainian ice cream in ‘Shufersal’ or Carrefour. Nor can it be asserted that buyers in Israel will not feel the consequences at all.
Why the story of the Zhytomyr plant concerns two countries
In September, the Zhytomyr region was repeatedly subjected to Russian strikes on civilian enterprises and infrastructure. Among the affected objects were food production, transport infrastructure, and enterprises with foreign investments.
For Ukraine, the destruction of the refrigeration complex means direct economic losses, destroyed goods, equipment, and additional recovery costs. For foreign partners, it means the need to consider military risks when placing orders and planning supplies.
This is no longer just a Ukrainian problem. The food industry operates through international supply chains, and the products of the plant in Zhytomyr end up on the shelves of Israeli stores.
In a more severe form, the Russian war also affects the internal supply of Ukrainian cities. Previously, we reported how in the occupied Oleshky of the Kherson region, residents are forced to traverse dangerous roads to obtain food, and the hospital experiences a shortage of even the simplest products. More details — ‘9 kilometers to Kherson, 20 to food: how the Russian occupation turned Ukrainian Oleshky into a city on the brink of hunger’.
The situations, of course, are incomparable in terms of the severity of consequences for people. But in both cases, it is about the destructive impact of war on civilian food infrastructure.
For ‘Rud’, there are now three main questions: what is the final damage from the September strikes, are the production capacities preserved, and how will foreign orders be fulfilled. For the Israeli direction, it is also necessary to establish the exact volume of supplies directly from the Zhytomyr Butter Plant, including products under the local partner’s brands.
Enough is already known to understand the scale of the connection. Ukrainian ice cream provides more than a tenth of Israel’s imports in its product category, and ‘Rud’ has a long-standing commercial history in the country.
And when a Russian drone destroys a refrigerated warehouse in Zhytomyr, the consequences do not necessarily end at the factory’s territory. Behind it are thousands of workers, Ukrainian production, international contracts, and the Israeli consumer who may not even know where their favorite ice cream came from.
