Kyiv calls on Israel to seize ship carrying ‘stolen’ Ukrainian grain

• Ukraine says the cargo ship is carrying grain that was taken from Russian-occupied territory and illegally exported

KYIV: Kyiv on Wednesday called on Israel to seize a cargo ship carrying grain that Ukraine says was taken from Russian-occupied territory and illegally exported by Moscow.
One of the world’s largest grain producers, Ukraine has repeatedly accused Russia of illegally exporting agricultural products from territory that Moscow has captured since it invaded in February 2022.
The call from Kyiv is the latest development in a mounting diplomatic spat between the two countries over what Ukraine says is Israel’s ongoing import of Russian-exported agricultural products.
“The Ukrainian side calls on its Israeli partners to arrest the vessel and its cargo, conduct a search, seize the ship and cargo documentation, take grain samples, and question the crew members,” the Ukrainian prosecutor general said in a statement.
Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko said in the announcement that his office had sent the relevant documents to the Israeli side and that investigators had documented the “vessel’s unlawful entry into Ukraine’s closed ports.”
Israel had earlier said that Kyiv did not provide evidence to support its claims, rejected that the ship had arrived at the port of Haifa, and said Ukraine was conducting diplomacy over social media.
“The request is now being examined by the relevant authorities,” Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on X Wednesday.
Kyiv, which accuses Russia of illegally exporting some two million tons of agricultural products over the last four years, had also summoned Israel’s ambassador to protest the alleged shipments this week.
Russia claims to have annexed swathes of southern and eastern Ukraine, including major export ports on the Black Sea.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said this week that the spat between Israel and Ukraine was a matter for the two countries to resolve and did not address the substance of the allegations.