Ukraine asks Israel to seize ship carrying grain ‘stolen’ by Russia
Ukraine has asked Israel to seize a ship carrying grain it says was stolen from areas occupied by Russia, its top prosecutor said, amid a diplomatic tussle between the two countries over the cargo.
Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko said on Telegram on Wednesday that the ship, Panormitis, was heading to the Israeli port of Haifa with grain “part of which was shipped” from Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine.
The grain had already been loaded from another ship, he said.
Ukraine and Israel exchanged accusations a day earlier, with Ukraine saying it had repeatedly urged Israel through diplomatic channels to take action regarding the ship. Israel accused Kyiv of “Twitter diplomacy.”
“The Ukrainian side asks its Israeli partners to seize the ship and its cargo, conduct a search, seize documents from the ship and cargo, take grain samples and interrogate crew members,” Kravchenko said.
An official at Royal Maritime Inc, the ship’s management company based in Greece, denied that the Panormitis was carrying grain from occupied Ukraine.
“All the legal documents we have, including the certificate of origin of the cargo, show that the cargo is Russian,” the official told the Reuters news agency.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, who previously said Ukraine had not provided any evidence for its claims, wrote on X on Wednesday that kyiv submitted its request to seize the ship on Tuesday evening.
“One would be expected to submit a legal request before tweeting. You chose differently, for your own reasons,” he wrote. “The request is currently being examined by the relevant authorities.”
Diplomatic relations have deteriorated
Kyiv has repeatedly protested against Russian grain exports from the since-occupied eastern regions of Ukraine. Full-scale invasion of Moscow in 2022 and Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014.
President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday threatened sanctions against those who tried to profit from the cargo, and Kyiv summoned Israeli ambassador over what he described as Israeli inaction.
Moscow has not commented on the legal status of grain collected in occupied areas, and the Kremlin declined to comment on Panormitis on Tuesday, saying Russia would not get involved.
The EU said on Tuesday it had contacted Israel about a “Russian ghost fleet” transporting stolen grain and was ready to sanction third-country individuals and entities that helped finance Russia’s war effort.
Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that since March it had contacted Israel about another ship, the Abinsk, which it said was also carrying stolen grain. This ship was allowed to unload and leave Israel despite kyiv’s requests, he added.
“We expect the Israeli side to take this seriously rather than responding with emotional statements,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha wrote on X on Wednesday.
