Russia stole metal from Mariupol and exported Ukrainian grain to annexed Crimea.
Russia has resorted to outright theft of Ukrainian products in territories temporarily occupied during the war. How is Ukraine trying to combat such theft?
Metal from Mariupol
From the port of Mariupol in the direction of Rostov-on-Don, left a dry-cargo ship Astrakhan, loaded with composite metal. Kyiv called it an act of theft and robbery.
As the head of the self-proclaimed “DPR” Denis Pushilin wrote in his telegram channel, 2,500 tons of composite metal were seized from the port of Mariupol.
Kyiv called Russia’s decision to remove the metal worth hundreds of millions of dollars from Mariupol as an act of theft and robbery. Prior to the occupation, there were about 200,000 tons of metal worth $ 170 million in the territory of the port of Mariupol.
“The first to enter the occupied port of Mariupol was a 40-year-old Russian ship, a long-standing violation of Crimean sanctions. Now the stolen Ukrainian metal will be taken to Rostov, and there it will be used by the Russians. Federation or change the documents – and for export, “wrote the head of the Institute of Black Sea Strategic Studies Andrey Klimenko.
Ukraine’s largest steel producer, Metinvest, had previously reported that five ships were in the port of Mariupol, loaded with thousands of tons of steel even before the war. The company warned that Russia could try to hijack these ships and illegally release them into the port along with the cargo.
From the reports of the Russian authorities, it is known that at the beginning of the invasion there were six foreign ships in the port of Mariupol – Tsarevna (Bulgaria), Azburg (Dominican Republic), Smarta (Liberia), Blue Star (Panama), Azov Concorde (Turkey) and Lady Augusta (Jamaica). ).
Grain from the south
On May 10, the press service of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine reported that Russia was exporting grain stolen from Ukraine to the Crimea. According to intelligence data, a set of KAMAZ trucks with grain left Energodar in the direction of Kamenka Dneprovskaya, grain carriers were also departing from the village of Volokhov Yar in the Kharkiv region and Pology in the Zaporozhye region .
In addition, according to the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, 1,500 tons of grain were brought by Krymzernotrans grain carriers from Malaya Lepetikha, Kherson region, to Crimea.
According to intelligence data, a significant portion of grain exported from Ukraine is on dry cargo ships under the Russian flag in the Mediterranean Sea.
“The most likely destination country for the shipment is Syria. From there, the grain can be smuggled to other countries in the Middle East,” Ukrainian intelligence said.
Ukraine is one of the largest exporters of food. It costs 42% of sunflower oil, 16% of corn and 9% of wheat sold in the world market.
grain corridor
Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Ukraine was working on organizing an operation under the auspices of the UN and with the participation of partner fleets to create a safe maritime corridor for Ukrainian grain. He also condemned the Kremlin’s attempts to blame Ukraine for the threat of a food crisis.
“Russia is playing hunger for the world, with one hand blocking food exports from Ukraine, and on the other trying to shift the blame to Ukraine. Ukraine is working to organize an international operations under the auspices of the UN, with the involvement of fleet partners, to ensure a safe trade corridor, ”he wrote.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu announced the visit of the Russian Foreign Minister to Turkey on June 8. According to him, at the meeting with Lavrov, among others, the topic of building a security corridor for the supply of Ukrainian wheat by Black Sea will be discussed.
Earlier the media reported that Ankara was in talks with Kyiv and Moscow to open a corridor through Turkey for grain exports from Ukraine. In a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced his readiness to organize a meeting of Ukraine, Russia and the UN in Istanbul. The Kremlin said that Putin in the conversation noted his readiness to “manage” the unhindered maritime transit of goods in coordination with Turkish partners. Later on Monday, Erdogan and President Volodymyr Zelensky discussed possible Ukraine-Russia talks and maritime export corridors.
Source: korrespondent
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.