TEL AVIV (Reuters) – Ukraine said on Thursday a ship carrying grain it claimed was stolen from Russian-occupied territory would not be unloaded in Israel after Kyiv asked Israel to seize the cargo.
Ukrainian Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko said on the Telegram app that the vessel, named Panormitis, left Israeli territorial waters and entered neutral waters after “Ukraine took a series of procedural measures.”
“Based on the material provided by the Ukrainian side within the framework of international legal cooperation, the competent Israeli authorities have begun processing the request,” he said.
However, Israel’s Foreign Ministry said Ukraine’s request for legal aid submitted late on Tuesday “contains significant factual gaps and does not contain any supporting evidence.”
At the same time, the ministry said it was informed that a ship scheduled to enter the port next week decided to leave Israeli territorial waters.
The manager of the Panamanian-flagged vessel could not immediately be reached for comment.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on Telegram that Foreign Minister Andriy Sibiha had submitted a report calling for “more systematic” action against ships carrying grain from occupied areas of the country.
“We will systematically take action against the shadow food fleet just as we took action against the shadow oil fleet,” he wrote.
Send a signal to other ships
Sibyha, writing in X earlier on Thursday, said the ship would not be unloaded in Israel, describing it as a “welcome development” that “shows that Ukraine’s legal and diplomatic actions are effective.”
Sibiha added that Ukraine would continue to track the ship and warned against any action against it.
“This is also a clear signal to all other ships, captains, operators, insurance companies and governments: Do not buy stolen Ukrainian grain. Do not become part of this crime,” Sibiha said.
The Jerusalem Post and other media cited a statement from the Israel Grain Importers Association earlier on Thursday saying companies importing grain were forced to reject the ship.
Zenziper, the company named as the importer in the report, did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
Kyiv believes that all food produced in four regions claimed by Russia as its own territory since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, as well as Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014, has been stolen and has protested against Russian food exports to other countries.
Moscow has yet to comment on the legal status of the grain harvested in what is still considered an internationally Ukrainian region.
Ukraine and Israel engaged in a diplomatic tit-for-tat this week, with Kyiv denouncing the purchase of grain produced in Ukrainian territory occupied by Russia. Israel says Kyiv has provided no evidence for its accusations.
(Reporting by Alexander Cornwell and Anna Pluchnika; Editing by Mark Porter, Tomas Janowski, Emilia Sithole-Matalis, Ron Popeski and Deepa Babington)