Ukraine war: Russia openly admits to systematic grain theft

Status: 06:35 am | Reading time: 4 minutes

AAt first it was just rumours, but then the signs became clear – now Russia openly admits to stealing Ukraine’s grain. The head of the Russian military administration in Zaporizhia, Yevgeny Balizki, announced on his Telegram channel on Saturday that large quantities of grain had been brought out of the country in the past few weeks. “More than 100 wagons have already been shipped, and another contract for 150,000 tons has been signed with a grain merchant,” Baliski wrote. Ukraine has been accusing Russia of stealing grain for months.

Balisky did not specify where the grain would be sourced. However, grain can only be transported by rail to Russia or to the Crimean peninsula, which Russia has annexed since 2014. According to Ukrainian sources, about 70 tons of grain can be transported in a typical local train wagon. According to Poliski, in addition to rail transport, shipping by sea is also planned. “About 100,000 tons will be exported through Berdyansk port,” he announced.

After the start of the invasion of Ukraine in February, the Russian military quickly captured the southern part of the Zaporizhia region, along with the port of Berdyansk on the Sea of ​​Azov. However, the advance to the north was halted, leaving the regional capital of Zaporizhia under the control of Kiev.

Before the war, Ukraine was one of the world’s largest grain exporters. As a result of the Russian attack and naval blockade, more than 20 million tons of Ukrainian grain have been stranded in the Black Sea, according to Gev. Ukraine is gradually succeeding in establishing alternative export routes. Uncertainties caused by war have made many foods more expensive worldwide. At the same time, according to Ukrainian sources, Russia is looting grain stocks in the occupied territories. Moscow denies this. According to images from the American satellite operator Maxar, Russian ships have sent Ukrainian grain to Syria.

Many cases of grain theft are now well documented. So is the Ukrainian Project SeaKrime 21 voyages by cargo ships to Syria, Turkey and the Russian port of Caucasus. In the Caucasus, ships were sent partially into the open sea to conceal the origin of grain from the Crimea.

Turkey in particular is repeatedly suspected of buying illegally exported grain from Russia. They said Reuters news agency In early July, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry sent several letters to the government in Ankara in June, demanding that suspicious movements of grain cargoes be investigated.

Meanwhile, fighting in the Donbass is rekindling after a long hiatus. Like an independent American think tank Institute for the Study of War (ISW) Citing data from the US space agency NASA, the number of “thermal events” near the front in eastern Ukraine has increased again in recent days.

This confirms that Russia has again shelled Ukrainian positions with artillery. The Defense Ministry in Moscow had earlier announced plans to expand strikes against the neighboring country, nearly five months after the invasion.

This is consistent with reports by the Ukrainian Air Force that long-range enemy missiles were launched from the Caspian Sea region. Four out of a total of six missiles were intercepted on Saturday in the Dnipro regions in the east and Zaporizhia in the south, the Ukrainian Air Force said. Two others hit an agricultural area in the central Ukrainian region of Cherkasy. The damage is still being assessed.

Apart from Russia, the South Caucasus Republic of Azerbaijan and the Central Asian Republic of Kazakhstan border the Caspian Sea. According to the Ukrainian account, long-range bombers of the Tupolev Tu-95 type were used in the shelling. Initially there was no confirmation from Moscow.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reiterated his desire to recapture Russian-controlled areas of his country. “We have already managed to liberate part of the occupied territory after February 24,” Zelenskyj said in his daily video address on Sunday night. “We will gradually liberate the rest of our country that is currently occupied.”

Five months after the start of the war, Ukraine recently launched counterattacks in the south and a few days ago shelled a Russian ammunition depot in the Cherson region. Weapons supplied from the West are also to be used to retake the occupied territories. Zelensky also accused Russia of deliberately using fake news as a weapon in its war against his country.

He said Ukrainians need “a kind of emotional sovereignty” not to play this “information game”. For example, the lies about the allegedly manufactured rocket attacks had only one purpose: “to support rocket and artillery attacks against our state with informational terrorism”.