Ukraine is preparing sanctions and a crackdown on Russia’s shadow fleet over grain theft — Sibiga
Ukraine will step up pressure on Russia and its partners over the illegal export of grain from the temporarily occupied territories and is preparing new sanctions.
This was stated by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sibiga.
According to him, in the first four months of 2026 alone, approximately 50 voyages by Russian ships from closed Ukrainian ports to third countries were recorded. In total, over 850,000 tons of grain were exported during this period.
Sevastopol became the main logistics hub for transportation, through which more than half of the volume passed. Another portion of the cargo was shipped from ports on the Sea of Azov—Mariupol and Berdyansk.
The minister noted that Russia is using schemes to circumvent sanctions: turning off ship transponders, falsifying coordinates, and transshipping cargo in the open sea.
Ukraine has already gathered data on specific vessels, companies, and their owners and is raising this issue at the international level, particularly within the International Maritime Organization.
Sybiga emphasized that Kyiv is preparing a strong response and stepping up actions against Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet.”
The European Commission is discussing new models for Ukraine’s gradual integration into the EU.
Ukraine hopes that the European Union will open all six negotiation clusters regarding the country’s accession as early as this year, and also anticipates the possibility of closing at least one of them by the end of the year.
