The Foreign Ministry has told Israel that the import of stolen Ukrainian grain is unacceptable

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha held a telephone conversation with his Israeli counterpart, Gideon Saar, regarding the arrival of a Russian vessel carrying stolen agricultural products at an Israeli port. The Ukrainian side emphasized that the illegal trade in stolen goods is part of the aggressor’s military efforts and must not be tolerated. 

This was reported by the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Sybiga added that the parties confirmed their mutual interest in maintaining an active dialogue, particularly on security issues, and agreed to remain in close contact. According to him, the conversation also touched on the situation in the Middle East, with the parties exchanging views on possible future developments.

According to intelligence reports, preparations for the ship to leave the Black Sea with cargo from the occupied territories were detected as early as March 20. Ukraine’s Ambassador to Israel, Yevhen Korniychuk, had warned official Jerusalem in advance about the sanctions violation and asked that the ship not be allowed to dock, but to no avail.

Kateryna Yaresko, a journalist with the SeaKrime project of the Myrotvorets Center, wrote that the ABINSK, on which Russia was transporting over 43,000 tons of wheat from the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, was received in the Israeli city of Haifa.

The Russian occupation authorities plan to actively use the seized port in occupied Berdyansk to export Ukrainian grain and finance their own economy, as evidenced by the signing by Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin of a decree establishing a permanent border post for the passage of cargo. 

We previously reported that the United Kingdom has developed a database to track and stop the theft of grain from Russian-occupied Ukrainian regions.

The detained captain of the USKO MFU vessel will be tried for illegally entering the port of temporarily occupied Sevastopol, from where he was exporting Ukrainian grain. He faces up to five years in prison.