The USSR’s massive investment in Ukrainian agriculture ended famines—hardly the behavior of a genocidal regime.

Question

And this is blindingly obvious in retrospect because the USSR went on to invest so heavily in Ukrainian agricultural infrastructure that they never suffered another famine again, and are even today one of the primary exporters of foodstuffs in the region - inexplicable if they intended genocide

Answer 1

Firstly, this claim is misleading and incorrect. It is not wise to believe people off a social media platform like BlueSky. I believe this claim refers to the Holodomor?

Just because the Soviet Union invested in agricultural infrastructure after the Holodomor, doesn't mean they didn't have malicious or genocidal intent. In fact, this famine is considered man made and could have been prevented, and I will tell you why. 

United Nations Definition of a Genocide: Article II

In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

1. Killing members of the group;

2. Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;

3. Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;

4. Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;

5. Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

The Holodomor was a terrible famine, the policies that caused this were implemented by Joseph Stalin, a well known, cruel, totalitarian leader. He wanted to replace privately owned farms and consolidate everything into state-owned farms (collectivization), while punishing Ukrainians who threatened his rule. The “Kulacks”, were resisters who were labeled as peasants and were deported off their lands forcefully. If the farms also didn’t produce enough to meet Stalin’s ridiculous quotas, he would in turn take more grain or what little Ukrainians had already.  To continue this idea of genocide, Stalin removed thousands of intellectual and the Ukrainian-language books from all schools and libraries. 

After the man-made famine worsened, that is when citizens began eating pets, dropping dead on the street, and little was done until Stalin realized his plan for a perfect socialist society had failed, he wasn’t making as much profit, and only strengthened Ukrainian nationalism against him.

To continue on, Ukraine’s agricultural success is not due to the policies of the Soviet Union... In fact, it is after. Fertile land, global markets, and independence from the USSR after it dissolved in 1991 created Ukraine’s major imprint in this agricultural business. Soviet policies prevented and hindered growth and economic prowess… Even so, Stalin the famine, and then implemented these policies to “help”, but in reality, it was to save himself from resistance and increase output. It was not meant solely to help Ukraine, it was more for selfish reasons. 

Therefore, genocide is not out of the question just because of the “investment” the USSR made to help Ukraine, it was political and economic relations. Stalin’s famine that he implemented on the Ukrainian people matches many numbers on the list the UN provided… 

Here are the sources I used:

How Joseph Stalin Starved Millions in the Ukrainian Famine | HISTORY

Export of grain | National Museum of the Holodomor-Genocide

After the Holodomor