Ukraine ‘angry’ about Israel allowing Russian ship with stolen grain to reach Haifa

Ukraine is “angry” about Israel allegedly allowing a Russian ship with stolen Ukrainian grain to dock in Haifa, Kyiv’s Ambassador Yevgen Korniychuk tells The Times of Israel.

“Israel wouldn’t be very happy if we started buying from Iran,” says the ambassador. “We avoid doing that. We believe we can request the same from you related to Russia.”

On March 27, he gave the Foreign Ministry’s Economic Department evidence indicating that the ship was carrying the stolen grain, but — according to Korniychuk — Israel has been waiting for an official request from the Ukrainian prosecutor general.

Israel’s Ambassador to Kyiv Michael Brodsky received the official request and Ukrainian court injunction yesterday and passed them to the Foreign Ministry.

“The Foreign Ministry, the Justice Ministry, and Israeli customs all knew about this,” Korniychuk says. “At least they could delay it until they received further information, but they didn’t.”

“This is clearly in violation of the international law and the agreements that have been made by both countries,” says Korniychuk. “So we are trying to go to work within the guidelines of the current bilateral rules.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office reached out to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office on Friday for a second time in recent weeks in an attempt to arrange the first phone call between the leaders in well over a year, an Israeli and a Ukrainian source tell The Times of Israel.

Zelensky’s office turned down the request, citing scheduling issue, but efforts continue to try to arrange a conversation.