Russians stole 180 thousand tons of Ukrainian grain through Mariupol port

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal reports that Russian forces have exported over 180,000 tons of stolen Ukrainian grain through the port of Mariupol in 2024.

Mariupol is a strategic port city in southeastern Ukraine on the Sea of Azov. It was subjected to a brutal siege by Russian forces in early 2022. The city’s port provides a crucial link between Russian-controlled territories in eastern Ukraine and the annexed Crimean Peninsula, offering Russia a land bridge and control over the Sea of Azov coastline. This allows Russia to exploit Ukrainian grain resources.

As of September 2023, Russia has stolen six million tons of grain from the occupied territories of Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale war.

“Russia continues to use food as an element of aggression,” Shmyhal said.

The Prime Minister also highlighted ongoing looting in temporarily occupied territories, asserting that stolen funds are being used to finance what he termed Russia’s “aggressive war.”

Shmyhal said that these Russian economic terrorism actions will be “one of the directions in the work of the special tribunal on the crime of Russian aggression against Ukraine.”

Russian company Trading House Donskoe Coal plans to export coal from occupied Donbas through the port of Mariupol in October.