Ukraine, Israel trade barbs over ‘stolen’ grain

KYIV: Ukraine and Israel were on Tuesday locked in a diplomatic row over allegations Tel Aviv had accepted shipments of grain, which Kyiv said Russia had “stolen” from parts of occupied Ukraine.

On Tuesday, Kyiv summoned Israel’s ambassador to protest the alleged shipments.

One of the world’s largest grain producers, Ukraine has repeatedly accused Russia of illegally exporting agricultural products from territory that Moscow has captured since it invaded in February 2022.

“Another vessel carrying such grain has arrived at a port in Israel and is preparing to unload,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote in a statement on social media.

“The Israeli authorities cannot be unaware of which ships are arriving at the country’s ports and what cargo they are carrying,” he added.

The development came after an investigation by Israeli outlet Haaretz found that the cargo ship Abinsk, ostensibly belonging to Russia’s shadow fleet, had docked at Haifa a couple of weeks ago.

Although Kyiv said it had warned Israel about the ship’s cargo in advance, Tel Aviv claimed that Kyiv had not provided evidence to support its claims and rejected that the ship had arrived at the port of Haifa.

However, the Haaretz report indicates that this was not the first time that stolen grain from Ukraine was imported by Israel: by 2023, at least two ships carrying stolen grain had arrived in Israel, and at least one of them unloaded here.

“The Ukrainian government has not submitted a request for legal assistance… nor has the Ukrainian government provided evidence for its claims,” Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said at a news conference in response to a question.

Ukraine alleges Russia stole more than two million tonnes of grain from occupied territory in 2025. It said it had tracked shipments to Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Europe.

Published in Dawn, April 29th, 2026