At the end of April, Ukraine recorded another series of shipments to Egypt, during which Russia continued exporting Ukrainian grain from occupied territories via the ports of Mariupol and Sevastopol, using falsified documents.
Vladyslav Vlasiuk, the President’s Commissioner for Sanctions Policy, stated this in comments to Ukrinform.
“Russia continues to sell stolen Ukrainian grain from the temporarily occupied territories through blatant criminal manipulations with documentation. At the end of April, we recorded another series of shipments to Egypt, where the occupiers are using the same scheme,” he said.
Vlasiuk explained that the grain is loaded in closed ports in occupied Mariupol or Sevastopol.
According to him, initial documents list Russian ports such as Temryuk, but once the vessels are at sea, the declarations “magically” change — with the final destinations becoming Egyptian ports El Dekheila or Alexandria.
“For example, Russian vessels Alfa-1 and Irkutsk (formerly Alfa M) were loaded directly in occupied Mariupol and altered their route documentation mid-voyage to conceal the grain’s origin. At the same time, Irkutsk is already under Ukrainian sanctions and formally seized as part of a criminal case in Ukraine. Similarly, another vessel — Mikhail Nenashev — transported Ukrainian grain from Sevastopol to Alexandria during the same period,” Vlasiuk noted.
The envoy stressed that altering documents does not change reality: “This is stolen grain, taken from territories of Ukraine occupied by Russia.”
He added that Ukraine is tracking the actual routes despite falsified declarations.
“Egypt must understand that by purchasing such wheat, it becomes part of the logistics chain of Russia’s war crime,” Vlasiuk said.
According to him, all information regarding these shipments, vessels, captains, and their owners has already been passed to international partners for further action and to strengthen sanctions pressure on Russia’s shadow grain fleet.
As reported by Ukrinform, the Presidential Office advocates for secondary sanctions against buyers of stolen Ukrainian grain.
