Ukraine asks Israel to seize ship carrying grain ‘stolen’ by Russia

Kyiv requested that Israel seize the vessel and its cargo, take grain ‌samples, and question crew ​members.Ukraine has asked Israel to seize a vessel 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 shipment.Ukraine’s Prosecutor General ⁠Ruslan Kravchenko said on Telegram on Wednesday that the vessel, Panormitis, was headed to the Israeli port of Haifa with grain “some of which was shipped” from Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Germany arrests Kazakhstan citizen accused of spying for Russialist 2 of 3Ukraine summons Israeli ambassador over ‘stolen’ grain shipmentslist 3 of 3UK expels Russian diplomat in tit-for-tat moveend of listThe grain had earlier been loaded from another vessel, he said.Ukraine and Israel traded accusations a day earlier, with Ukraine saying it had repeatedly urged Israel via diplomatic channels to take measures regarding the vessel. Israel accused Kyiv of “Twitter diplomacy”.“The Ukrainian side is asking its Israeli partners to seize the vessel and its cargo, conduct a search, seize the vessel’s and cargo documentation, take grain ‌samples, and question the crew members,” Kravchenko said.An official at Royal Maritime Inc, the vessel’s Greece-based management company, denied the Panormitis was carrying any grain from occupied Ukraine.“All of the legal documents we have, including the cargo’s certificate of origin, 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 had submitted its request to seize the vessel late on Tuesday.“One would expect the submission of a legal request before Tweeting. You chose differently, for your own ⁠reasons,” he wrote. “The request is now being examined by the relevant authorities.”Diplomatic relations sourKyiv has repeatedly protested Russian exports of grain from eastern Ukrainian regions occupied since Moscow’s 2022 full-scale invasion and from Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014.