Ukrainian FM says “stolen grain” unloaded in Egypt despite legal request for seizure

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha has stated that the vessel ASOMATOS was allowed to unload 26,900 tonnes of what he described as “stolen Ukrainian grain” at Egypt’s Abu Qir port.

In a post on X, Sybiha said this marked the fourth case of alleged “Russia’s grain laundering” in Egyptian ports since April, Caliber.Az reports.

According to him, the vessel ASOMATOS was allowed to dock and unload even though four days ago, the Prosecutor General of Ukraine officially appealed to Egypt’s Ministry of Justice for legal assistance regarding this illegal cargo, exported by the sanctioned company Agro-Fregat via occupied Crimea.

Despite repeated warnings, the "ASOMATOS" vessel has been permitted to unload 26.9k tons of stolen Ukrainian wheat at Abu Qir. This is the fourth instance of Russiaʼs grain laundering in Egyptian ports since April.

The "ASOMATOS" was allowed to dock and unload despite the fact…

— Andrii Sybiha 🇺🇦 (@andrii_sybiha) May 5, 2026

The FM stressed that all necessary data and legal grounds were provided to arrest the vessel and its cargo.

“Ukraine is a country that has played the role of a reliable food security guarantor for Egypt for many years — and we don’t understand why Egyptian partners pay us back by continuing to accept stolen Ukrainian grain.

Furthermore, we remind Egypt and all other nations that Ukraine survived a genocide through hunger last century when Moscow ordered grain to be taken away from our people. Now that Moscow again steals our grain, it invokes our worst memories.

We urge our Egyptian partners to uphold international law, their own promises made to us, and the principles of our bilateral relations.

Stolen goods from occupied territories must be seized, not accepted. Looting is not trade, and complicity only fuels further aggression,” Sybiha wrote.

By Bakhtiyar Abbasov