Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy makes statements as he arrives for the EU Summit in Ayia Napa, Cyprus, Thursday, April 23, 2026.
Petros Karadjias/AP
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Petros Karadjias/AP
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine accused Israel on Tuesday of permitting the import of grain it says Russia stole from occupied areas, prompting a pointy alternate between officers.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated a vessel carrying grain had arrived at an Israeli port and was getting ready to unload, calling the commerce unlawful and warning of sanctions towards these concerned.
Israel claimed that the vessel had not entered the port and had not but submitted its paperwork. The MarineTraffic.com marine monitoring web site confirmed the ship had been in Haifa for a number of days.
“In any normal country, purchasing stolen goods is an act that entails legal liability,” Zelenskyy wrote on X, including that Ukraine’s intelligence providers had been getting ready sanctions focusing on corporations and people taking advantage of the shipments.
“We will also coordinate with European partners to ensure that the relevant individuals are included in European sanctions regimes,” he stated.
Israel’s Overseas Minister Gideon Saar stated the nation’s tax authority had opened an investigation right into a ship anticipated to dock at Haifa port.
Saar dismissed Zelenskyy’s feedback as “Twitter diplomacy,” telling a press convention in Jerusalem that Ukraine had not offered adequate info or requested authorized help.
Heorhii Tykhyi, a spokesman for Ukraine’s Overseas Ministry, stated Kyiv had knowledgeable Israeli authorities in regards to the vessels prematurely. He stated greater than two had arrived in Israel carrying agricultural merchandise Ukraine described as illegally taken by Russia from occupied Ukrainian land.
The ministry stated it had summoned Israel’s ambassador, Michael Brodsky, and handed him a word of protest over what it referred to as a unbroken movement of such shipments. It added that the origin of the grain had been established and that concealment strategies, together with ship-to-ship transfers within the Black Sea, had been well-known.
Regardless of this, the cargo continued to succeed in Israeli ports and enter business circulation, the ministry stated, accusing Israel of failing to answer formal requests to detain the vessels and cargo.
Kyiv described the difficulty as systemic somewhat than remoted, and urged Israel to halt imports it says contain stolen Ukrainian grain, warning the state of affairs dangers undermining bilateral relations.
