Ukraine detains cargo ship exporting grain from Crimea

The SBU has detained a foreign cargo ship and its captain, who worked for the Russian aggressor country, in the waters of Odessa Region. This was reported by the SBU on 11 July.

The ship was flying the flag of one of the Central African countries, and its crew was fulfilling the Russian Federation's order to export Ukrainian grain from occupied Crimea.

In 2023-2024, the ship repeatedly docked at the seaport of Sevastopol to pick up looted agricultural products. The ship then transported the cargo to the Middle East for sale in favour of the aggressor country of the Russian Federation.

To disguise himself, the ship's captain periodically switched off the ship's GPS tracker and entered false information in the log of routes and stops.

In this way, he helped the occupants to export multi-ton consignments of Ukrainian grain stolen from the occupied regions in the south of Ukraine.

The captain of the cargo ship is a citizen of one of the countries of the South Caucasus. The ship's crew included 12 other foreigners.

During the search on board the ship, documents, navigation aids and other material evidence of criminal activity were found.

Investigators of the SBU informed the captain of the ship of suspicion under part 2 of article 332-1 of the Criminal Code (violation of the order of entry to and exit from the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine). The issue of selecting a measure of restraint is being decided. The offender faces up to 5 years of imprisonment.

The vessel was towed to Odessa region and arrested by court decision.

Earlier Socialportal reported that in March in the port of occupied Mariupol was spotted a Russian cargo ship. It was the first ship since the beginning of 2024.