Two Russian ships were loaded with what appeared to be stolen Ukrainian grain, according to satellite images captured last week in Crimea.
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Images from Maxar Technologies, dated May 19 and 21, show the two ships moored to grain silos from which they empty the contents through an open cellar. The Matros Pozynich and the Matros Koshka have since left the port of Sevastopol, Crimea, according to ship tracking site MarineTraffic.com.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has previously accused Russia of “gradually stealing” Ukrainian food products and trying to resell them to other countries.
The Matros Pozynich ship has already been loaded with grain in the past to go to the Mediterranean Sea. However, after a warning from the Ukrainian government, the ship was refused entry into the ports of Alexandria and Beirut. He finally landed in Syria, where Russia has supported the Bashar al-Assad regime for years.
Russia has also blocked Ukraine from exporting goods from its ports, confirming UN concerns about a global food crisis. Since the Russian invasion, nearly 400,000 tons of grain have been stolen, estimated the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense.
“The world community must help Ukraine unblock the seaports, otherwise the energy crisis will be followed by a food crisis and many other countries will face it,” President Zelensky said.
Last week, the United States and its allies were scrambling to find routes to transport the grain safely, but this possible new grain theft in Ukraine thwarts those plans.
According to the US State Department, wheat supplies from Russia and Ukraine accounted for almost 30% of world trade before the war, and Ukraine was the world’s fourth largest exporter of corn and fifth largest exporter of wheat. .
The UN, for its part, bought half of the cereals from Ukraine each year to help the world food crisis. If the country’s ports do not open their doors soon, several countries will face disastrous consequences, the organization warned.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov meanwhile denied allegations that Russia stole grain from Ukraine, according to Russian news agency TASS.
