
See there you go, exactly what I mean. IMO it was a result of compounding factors, including rapid industrialization and collectivization (both of which were reckless in pace), Ukraine already being a famine prone region, unscientific agricultural practices (i.e. lysenkoism, which more shows the dangers of nepotism than the dangers of communism), and bad communications. There are probably a few more I’m missing here too. It was also the last major famine in the Soviet Union.
For one he was warned countless times of the starving people and ignored it, he had unrealistic grain quotas enforced as people were starving while being aware they were starving (something like 20,000 people were dying a day), Ukrainian citizens who left to find food were arrested and either jailed or sent back to where they came by secret police, and the soviets tried to conceal the whole thing to hide responsibility after around 3.9 million people died