Ukraine seizes foreign vessel it says was exporting stolen grain

PHOTO CAPTION: Illustrative photo — An operator from the Ukrainian Special Purpose Unit checks a stairwell while assaulting an oil rig during NATO’s exercise Night Hawk 21 on October 6 2021. (NATO photo via Flickr)

KYIV (Reuters) -     Ukraine has detained a foreign vessel in its territorial waters which it alleges was involved in the illegal trade of stolen Ukrainian grain, the state security service SBU said on Friday.

Kyiv has accused Russia of trading stolen Ukrainian grain since the 2022 war in Ukraine began, allegations Russia denies. Ship seizures, however, have been rare. 

"The investigation found that the arrested vessel was part of Russia's 'shadow' fleet, which the Kremlin uses to sell looted Ukrainian grain to third countries," SBU said on the Telegram messaging service.

It said that at the end of 2024, the same vessel had exported from the Crimean port of Sevastopol 5,000 metric tons of wheat stolen from the occupied southern Ukrainian territory.

SBU said the vessel had carried out an illegal raid under the flag of an Asian country to export the grain. It gave no more details.

Last July Ukraine seized a foreign cargo ship on the Danube River and detained the captain on suspicion of helping Moscow export Ukrainian grain from Russian-occupied Crimea.

Findings of its investigation into that case were not reported. 

 (Reporting by Pavel Polityuk; Editing by Aidan Lewis)