President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday slammed Israel for allegedly accepting shipments of Ukrainian grain “stolen” by Russia, which occupies swathes of Ukrainian agricultural land.
Ukraine, one of the world’s largest grain producers, has repeatedly accused Russia of illegally exporting agricultural products from territory 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,” 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.
Zelensky added that Kyiv was readying sanctions against individuals and entities involved in the purchase of Ukrainian grain, and said that his office would lobby the European Union to impose penalities on those involved in “this criminal scheme”.
Kyiv had on Monday said it would summon Israel’s ambassador in protest over the alleged delivery of Ukrainian grain to the port of Haifa.
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Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday that the growing diplomatic spat between Israel and Ukraine was a matter for the two countries to resolve.
“We would rather not comment on this in any way or get involved in this matter,” he told journalists, including from AFP, during a briefing.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 triggered a spike in global food prices.
The United Nations and Turkey brokered a deal allowing Ukraine to export grain through the Black Sea later that year, but Russia later ditched the deal, saying it wanted sanctions relief as part of the accord.
In late 2022, Moscow claimed to have annexed four southern and eastern regions of Ukraine — including major export ports on the Black Sea.
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