The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Andrí Sibiga, reported last night that he summoned the Israeli ambassador in kyiv, Michael Brodsky, for this Tuesday due to the presence of Russian ships loaded with stolen Ukrainian grain in Israel.
“We have already officially summoned the Israeli ambassador for tomorrow morning to present our note of protest and request appropriate action,” Sibiga wrote on his X account, where he reproached Tel Aviv for participating in the illegal Russian trade in stolen Ukrainian grain.
The head of Ukraine’s diplomacy noted that “Ukrainian-Israeli friendly relations have the potential to benefit both countries, and Russia’s illegal trade in Ukrainian grain should not harm them.”
“It is difficult to understand Israel’s lack of response to Ukraine’s legitimate request for a ship that delivered stolen goods to Haifa. Now that another such ship has arrived in Haifa, we warn Israel against accepting stolen grain and damaging our relations,” he added.
Tensions between Ukraine and Israel have increased after kyiv tried to prevent a ship carrying grain allegedly stolen from Russian-occupied territories from docking and unloading at the port of Haifa, about 90 kilometers north of Tel Aviv.
Israel’s Foreign Minister responded to Sybiha’s message on social network X, urging kyiv not to transfer diplomatic relations to the media or social networks.
Gideon Sa’ar insisted that “no evidence has yet been provided to support the accusations.” The head of Israeli diplomacy also stated that kyiv “did not even submit a request for legal assistance before turning to the media and social networks.”
“The matter will be examined. Israel is a state of law with independent police authorities. All institutions will act in accordance with the law,” he added. ‘Euronews’ sources in kyiv confirmed that Ukrainian officials have warned of possible diplomatic consequences if Israel does not reject the shipment.
Israel maintains direct communication with the Kremlin and has continued to do so during the invasion, which began in February 2022. First, to keep Moscow under control, due to its support for the Syrian regime of Bashar el Assad, although it fell almost a year and a half ago. And second, because there is a significant volume of the Russian Jewish population that is today a national of Israel. Tel Aviv has tried to stay low in this conflict.
The ship of discord
The ship in question is the Panormitis, with the Panamanian flag, which is located in waters near Haifa, according to maritime tracking services. It transports, according to available information, more than 6,200 tons of wheat and 19,000 tons of barley.
According to Ukrainian investigative journalist Kateryna Yaresko, from the SeaKrime project, who released the information, the Panormitis was loaded with grain from occupied Ukrainian territories through transfers from other ships and departed from the port of Kavkaz, in the Russian region of Krasnodar.
According to this report, much of the shipment comes from the occupied Ukrainian city of Berdyansk, on the coast of the Sea of Azov. kyiv is closely monitoring the ship’s movements and, according to US media reports confirmed by ‘Euronews’, it is not willing to “let the incident pass.”
A Ukrainian diplomatic source told the American intelligence portal Axios that Israel has “basically shrugged its shoulders” at kyiv’s demands regarding a previous ship that unloaded allegedly stolen wheat in Haifa.
“Frankly, this feels like a slap in the face, given the strategic goodwill Ukraine has shown, from designating the Iranian Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization to criminalizing anti-Semitism,” the source added. ‘Euronews’ has contacted the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but has not received a response at the time of publication.
Furthermore, in early April, the Russian bulk carrier Abinsk delivered almost 44,000 tons of allegedly stolen Ukrainian wheat to Israel, prompting a strong diplomatic reaction from kyiv, Euronews recalls. The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs claimed to have previously warned the Israeli authorities about the possible origin of the shipment, coming from temporarily occupied territories.
