Russia is allegedly stealing grain from Ukraine: New satellite images are said to show scenes
Created: 05/24/2022, 12:40 p.m
By: Janine Napirca
A tractor is seen on a grain field in the outskirts of Kyiv on April 27, 2022.
© MIGUEL GUTIERREZ/Agencia EFE/Imago
New satellite images from the port of Sevastopol in Crimea are intended to prove that Russia is also systematically stealing grain in the Ukraine war.
Sevastopol – With the annexation of Crimea in 2014, Russia also took over the Black Sea port of Sevastopol.
As a result of the attacks on the ports in Mariupol on the Azov Sea and Odessa on the Black Sea, Ukraine (all information on the Ukraine conflict at a glance) can no longer export anything on these routes, which has an impact on the entire food supply worldwide.
Satellite images are now said to prove that Russia is stealing grain from Ukraine.
Crimea, annexed by Russia, itself produces little grain, in contrast to the northern Ukrainian regions of Cherson and Zaporizhia.
Ukrainian officials and industry sources claim to news
channel CNN
that Russian forces emptied several silos in the occupied territories and trucked the grain south.
Ukraine-Russia News: US Secretary of State Blinken accuses Moscow of creating a food crisis
According to estimates, 22 million tons of grain are to be stored in the silos in Ukraine, which could not be exported due to the Ukraine war.
"The Russian Federation falsely claims that the international community's sanctions are to blame for worsening the global food crisis," said US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
The sanctions don't block Black Sea ports, stop ships loaded with food, and don't destroy Ukraine's roads and railways -- Russia does.
Antony Blinken, Secretary of State of the United States of America
He also adds: "The sanctions do not block Black Sea ports, do not stop ships loaded with food, do not destroy Ukrainian roads and railways - Russia does."
Grain from Ukraine: USA wants to look for new transport routes, Kyiv wants the occupied ports back
According to the report, the United States wants to work with allies to develop safe transport routes for grain from Ukraine.
Before the war, wheat shipments from Russia and Ukraine accounted for nearly 30 percent of world trade.
In addition, according to the US State Department, Ukraine is the world's fourth-largest exporter of corn and fifth-largest exporter of wheat.
The world community must help Ukraine to open its ports, otherwise the energy crisis will be followed by a food crisis that will affect many more countries.
Russia has blocked almost all ports and thus all maritime opportunities to export food - grain, barley, sunflowers.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine
Instead of finding new transport routes, Ukraine would like support so that the occupied ports can be used again for export.
“The world community must help Ukraine to open its ports, otherwise the energy crisis will be followed by a food crisis that will affect many more countries.
Russia has blocked almost all ports and thus all maritime opportunities to export food - grain, barley, sunflowers," says Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine, describing the current situation.
also read
"Increasingly feverish and unstable": Ex-secret service agent reports of "chaos" surrounding Putin
"It really happened": According to the Ukrainian secret service, Putin survived an assassination attempt after the start of the war
Ukraine-Russia-News: New satellite images are said to show how grain is being stolen from Ukraine
According to CNN
, satellite imagery by Maxar Technologies from May 19 and 21 shows
the two Russian-flagged ships Matros Pozynich and Matros Koshka docked at a grain silo at the port of Sevastopol in Crimea.
The Russian ships may have been loaded with allegedly stolen Ukrainian grain, as grain can be seen flowing from a belt into an open hold.
Zelenskyy has previously accused Russia of stealing and selling Ukrainian food.
The two ships have a capacity of 30,000 tons, according to CNN.
Ukraine's Defense Ministry believes that Russia has stolen around 400,000 tons of grain from Ukraine since the attack.
Ukrainian Minister of Agricultural Policy and Food Mykola Solsky speaks of an organized approach: "It's big business overseen by people at the highest level."
Grain theft in Ukraine: Russia is said to have stolen grain before
Earlier this month, the Matros Pozynich reportedly carried out a similar mission, sailing towards the Mediterranean fully loaded with grain from Ukraine.
According to the report, after the Ukrainian authorities issued a warning, Egypt turned the Russian ship away.
When it was not allowed to enter Beirut either, it finally docked in Syria.
According to the ship tracking website MarineTraffic.com
, the two Russian ships that have now been discovered on satellite images have
now left Sevastopol.
While the Matros Pozynich is sailing through the Aegean and claims to be en route to Beirut, according to the report, the Matros Koshka is said to be still navigating the Black Sea.
