Sybiga welcomed Sweden's seizure of a vessel implicated in the theft of Ukrainian grain
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sibiga expressed official gratitude to Sweden for the court’s decision to seize the Caffa, a dry cargo ship subject to sanctions. This bulk carrier is reasonably suspected of systematically and illegally transporting Ukrainian agricultural products out of territories temporarily occupied by Russia.
This is the first case in history where a foreign court has approved the arrest of a vessel directly based on a request for international legal assistance from the Ukrainian side, which the Office of the Prosecutor General submitted in March of this year.
As part of a joint operation, Swedish authorities detained the vessel in the port of Trelleborg, conducted detailed searches on board, and questioned the crew members (mostly Russian citizens). Furthermore, the Swedish judiciary has preliminarily approved the subsequent transfer of the seized property to Ukraine.
Investigators established that the vessel Caffa regularly called at closed Ukrainian ports, in particular Sevastopol, after which it was unloaded at the Syrian port of Tartus. To conceal the looting, a “shadow fleet” scheme was used with a false registration in international databases under the name Guinea False. Due to these activities, Ukraine imposed sanctions against the vessel as early as November 2025.
Andriy Sybiga emphasized that the approval of the arrest is an extremely important precedent in Ukraine’s efforts to protect its national interests. According to him, the Swedish court’s decision clearly demonstrated that cross-border legal mechanisms for holding perpetrators accountable are effective, and Ukraine will continue to work methodically with international partners to punish all individuals involved in the illegal use of Ukrainian assets.
Sybiga wrote about this on X.
A court in Sweden has ruled to seize the vessel “CAFFA.” This is the first known case in which a foreign court has granted a request from the Ukrainian prosecutor’s office for international legal assistance regarding a vessel that may have been involved in the illegal export of goods from the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.
Prior to this, the ship Asomatos delivered 26,900 tons of wheat to the port of Abu Qir, which, according to Ukraine, had been illegally exported by Russia. Kyiv appealed to the Egyptian authorities regarding yet another instance of such grain shipments.
Russia continues to export Ukrainian grain from the temporarily occupied territories and sell it abroad. In late April, Ukraine recorded several such shipments to Egypt.
