Almost 89,000 tonnes of Ukrainian wheat: occupying forces have stepped up grain exports via Mariupol
Russian occupiers continue to ship Ukrainian grain via the seized port of Mariupol. Since the start of 2026, 88,800 tonnes of wheat have been shipped from there, which already exceeds last year’s total.
This is reported by Censor.NET, citing a statement by Petro Andriushchenko, head of the Centre for the Study of the Occupation.
In six months, more was exported than in the whole of 2025
According to Andriushchenko, 12 cargo ships transported wheat from Mariupol throughout 2026.
The cargo was bound for countries in Africa and the Middle East.
"The scheme is simple. Ukrainian grain is loaded in occupied Mariupol, the paperwork is processed through Russian ports, and the cargo is then shipped to countries in Africa and the Middle East as 'Russian'," said Andriushchenko.
According to him, throughout 2025, the occupying forces shipped around 67,000 tonnes of grain via the Port of Mariupol. In contrast, in the first six months of 2026, this figure rose by more than a third.
Ukraine had previously called for the grain ship to be detained
Ukraine had previously asked Israel to detain the Russian vessel ABINSK, which was transporting wheat from the temporarily occupied territories.
However, the vessel had already left the port of Haifa before the necessary measures were taken.
At the time, the Israeli Foreign Minister, Gideon Saar, stated that it was no longer possible to detain the vessel, as it had already left the port.
