By Youssef Diab and Omar Tamo
Lebanon has seized a ship loaded with barley and wheat flour (click here) while it determines whether the cargo may have been stolen from Ukraine, said Public Prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat.
The Ukrainian embassy in Beirut said the vessel was loaded at Feodosia in the Russian-occupied peninsula of Crimea, and that the commodities originated from Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv and Kherson in southeastern Ukraine.
The embassy accused Russia of stealing more than 500,000 tons during its occupation of the three regions. While Russia denies stealing grain, it has publicly touted the resumption of grain shipments from occupied ports.
Grain shipments from Crimea have surged since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, which analysts say indicates Ukrainian grain is being exported. Exports from Crimea are sanctioned by the European Union and the US....
The first ship to export Ukrainian grain (click here) since an agreement was reached for the safe transit of vessels may depart as soon as Monday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said.
“There are a few hitches, a few issues being discussed with the Russians,” Kalin said in an interview with Kanal 7 TV channel on Sunday, adding that the ships should start departing “by Tuesday at the latest.”
More than a week after Russia and Ukraine reached a deal aimed at releasing millions of tons of grain through three Black Sea ports, no ships have sailed.
Ukraine said on Friday it’s close to restarting shipments, although the timing was linked to receiving go-ahead from the United Nations, which along with Turkey was a signatory to the July 22 agreement. The UN has declined to specify a day.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy visited the Black Sea port of Chornomorsk on Friday, where he watched grain being loaded onto a Turkish vessel....
