"Some scholars believe that the famine was planned by Joseph Stalin to eliminate a Ukrainian independence movement.[10][22] Others suggest that the man-made famine was a consequence of Soviet industrialisation.[23][24][25]" So the famine was not JUST in the Ukraine, other areas suffered too and evidence it was intentional against Ukraine does not appear strong. However I would not be surprised if when faced with insufficient rations, the less favorite regions got the least rations, Mao did that when his plan for China's agriculture failed badly as well. It could easily be that the mistakes in crop management plus the mentioned less favorable weather lead to the russian disaster. It should be mentioned that the USA starting suffering the great dust bowl around then which lasted for many years with people in the 'dust' regions not getting much (if any?) help from the USA govt. Many also starved. And we've already seen that at the hint of possibly scarce resources like perhaps hospital space, people are quite to say that those with unfavored opinions are the ones that should be left out. I don't trust Russia but I also am not sure I trust the USA much more.