Satellite images show Russian ships carrying Ukrainian grain in Crimea

/Russia’s theft of Ukrainian grain appears to be on the rise as it continues its war against the country, according to new satellite photos of Crimea’s port of Sevastopol.

Two Russian-flagged bulk carriers are shown in the footage docking and carrying what is believed to be stolen Ukrainian grain.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of “gradually stealing” Ukrainian food products and trying to sell them.

New images from Maxar Technologies, dated May 19 and 21, show the ships — the Matros Pozynich and Matros Koshka — moored alongside what appear to be grain silos with grain sticking out of a belt in an open hold.

Both ships have already left port, according to ship tracking website MarineTraffic.com, with the Matros Pozynich sailing through the Aegean Sea claiming to be on its way to Beirut and the Matros Koshka still in the Black Sea.

It is difficult to know for sure whether the ship is being loaded with stolen Ukrainian grain, but Crimea, annexed to Russia, produces little grain, unlike the Ukrainian agricultural regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia to the north.

Ukrainian officials and industry sources told CNN that Russian forces in occupied areas emptied several silos and transported the grain south.

Earlier this month, Matros Pozynich carried out a similar mission: load grain and set sail from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean.

It was initially destined for Egypt with the cargo, but was turned down in Alexandria after a warning from Ukrainian authorities, according to the country’s government.

Entry into Beirut was also barred, eventually docking in Latakia, Syria, where Russia has supported the regime of Bashar al-Assad for years.

At the same time, Russia has blocked Ukraine from exporting goods from its ports, stoking fears of a global food crisis.

“The world community must help Ukraine to unlock sea ports, otherwise the energy crisis will be followed by a food crisis and many other countries will face it,” Zelensky said on Saturday.

“Russia has blocked almost every port and, so to speak, every maritime opportunity to export food — our grains, barley, sunflowers and more. Many things.”

Last week, the CNN reported that the US and its allies are discussing how to safely develop routes to transport grain from Ukraine amid concerns over global food supplies. Evidence that Russia is stealing grain only complicates these efforts.

Before the war, wheat supplies from Russia and Ukraine accounted for nearly 30% of global trade, and Ukraine is the world’s fourth-largest corn exporter and fifth-largest wheat exporter, according to the US State Department.

The United Nations World Food Program — which helps combat global food insecurity — buys about half of its wheat from Ukraine each year and has warned of dire consequences if Ukrainian ports are not opened.

The ships have a capacity of 30,000 tonnes, and earlier this month, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry estimated that around 400,000 tonnes had been stolen and taken out of Ukraine since the Russian invasion.

Mykola Solsky, Ukraine’s Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food, said it is “sent in an organized manner in the direction of Crimea. This is a huge business that is overseen by people at the highest level.”

Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, taking with it the main Black Sea port of Sevastopol. Since launching a new invasion in February, Russia has deprived Ukraine of access to two key ports: capturing Mariupol on the Sea of ​​Azov and targeting and blocking Odessa, also on the Black Sea.

Ukraine’s inability to export from these ports is not only affecting food levels across the world, but having a devastating impact on the country’s economy.

There are an estimated 22 million tonnes of grain in Ukrainian silos, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last week.

“The Russian Federation falsely claims that sanctions from the international community are to blame for the worsening global food crisis. Sanctions are not blocking Black Sea ports, arresting ships full of food and destroying Ukrainian roads and railways,” Blinken said. “Russia is [culpada].”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov previously called allegations that Russia was stealing grain from its neighbor “fake news,” according to Russian state news agency TASS and other news outlets.

*With information from Paul Murphy and Nathan Hodge of CNN

Source: CNN Brasil

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