Kyiv Threatens Sanctions Against Israel for Importing ‘Stolen’ Ukrainian Grain

As two countries engaged in separate wars, Ukraine and Israel, bicker over wheat deliveries, European countries are weighing unrelated harsh sanctions against the Jewish state. President Volodimyr Zelensky is threatening Israel with sanctions over purchases of grain harvested in Ukraine’s Russian-occupied territory. At the same time, France and Sweden are preparing European Union measures to ban Israeli products that are produced in Judea and Samaria, which the EU dubs as occupied Palestinian territory.According to a report in the left wing Israeli publication Ha’aretz, seven Russian vessels carrying wheat, sunflowers, and other grains from Russian-occupied Ukraine were unloaded at Haifa port in 2026. The latest such ship, the Panama flagged Panormitis, is docked at Haifa but has yet to unload its cargo. Grain from previous such ships has already been sold in Israeli markets. The Panormitis is “suspected of carrying a grain cargo that was illegally transported from a closed port in the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine in violation of international law and Ukrainian legislation,” Kyiv’s foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, wrote on X Wednesday. Israeli officials say they are investigating the cargo’s origin. “One would expect the submission of a legal request before Tweeting,” the Jerusalem foreign minister, Gideon Sa’ar, snapped back at Mr. Sybiha on X. “You submitted the request late last night and now you are following it up with another Tweet. The request is now being examined by the relevant authorities.”Moscow-connected contractors are reportedly confiscating from Ukrainian farmers deeds to grain fields in agriculturally rich areas that Russia usurped during the war. The grain is exported via a Russian “shadow fleet,” according to Kyiv, which says more than 850,000 tons of grain are exported that way since the start of 2026.“We know about the vessels, the companies, the owners, and other details,” Mr. Sybiha writes. “We see how Russia attempts to avoid responsibility by turning off transponders, spoofing coordinates, and conducting ship-to-ship transfers to conceal the illegal sale of stolen Ukrainian grain. We will not let this pass.”Even as several countries have denied access to such ships, others are taking in Ukrainian grain that Russia is selling. Egypt, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Bangladesh, and Turkey have allowed such Russian ships to unload their cargo. Kyiv officially protested to those countries, but its demarches were hardly noticed. The spat with Israel, on the other hand, is widely reported, as is Jeruselam’s official response.Mr. Sa’ar has yet to address the underlying issue, even as he repeatedly accuses his Kyiv counterpart of conducting “Twitter diplomacy.” The identity of the Israeli contractor who is buying the stolen Ukrainian goods has yet to be released. Israeli sources tell the Sun they suspect that the contractor is highly connected at Jerusalem, which might explain Israel’s slow response. Complex relations between the countries run deeper than mere personalities, though. Following the 2022 Russian invasion, Kyiv has constantly complained that Israel was stingy about sharing its Iron Dome and other defense systems. Jerusalem argued that it too has enemies. After October 7, 2023, Israelis indeed found themselves in constant need of defense systems, which at times seemed to run low.More recently, President Zelensky toured the Mideast, making stops in Gulf states and Jordan, but skipping Israel. Ukraine habitually votes alongside most Europeans in favor of United Nations resolutions that target Israel. Meanwhile, the EU is hotly debating a resolution to end the union’s trade association with Israel. Until recently Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu relied on his allied Hungarian counterpart, Victor Orban, to block sanctions against Israel. Separately, Mr. Orban often angered Kyiv when Hungary blocked Ukraine-related united European action against Russia. Two weeks ago Hungary elected a new premier, Peter Magyar, ending the long Orban era. Last week France said that an anti-Israel initiative it is promoting alongside Sweden, which is also backed by Italy, could be enacted “in days.” The legislation would impose sanctions on settlers in disputed territories that Europe considers illegally occupied by Israel. Mr. Magyar, once an Orban ally, has so far refrained from opining on Israel-related EU action. “Our nation has experienced a genocide by hunger, the Holodomor, in which grain was taken away from our people,” Mr. Sybiha writes. Israelis invoke their own history, including many Ukrainians who collaborated with the Nazis during the holocaust.For now, Mr. Zelensky, Ukraine’s first Jewish leader, and Mr. Netanyahu, a descendent of Eastern European Jews, are at loggerheads.

Kyiv Threatens Sanctions Against Israel for Importing ‘Stolen’ Ukrainian Grain

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