TEL AVIV: A vessel carrying grain that Ukraine says was stolen from areas occupied by Russia will not unload in Israel, Ukraine’s foreign minister and top prosecutor said on Thursday, after Kyiv requested Israel to seize the cargo.

Ukraine’s prosecutor general, Ruslan Kravchenko, said on the Telegram app that the vessel, Panormitis, left Israel’s territorial waters and departed into neutral waters following “a range of procedural measures taken by Ukraine”.

“On the basis of the materials provided by the Ukrainian side within the framework of international legal cooperation, the competent Israeli authorities have begun to process the request,” he said.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha described it as a “welcome development”.

Published in Dawn, May 1st, 2026