The Turkish authorities have released the Zhibek Zholy vessel, which was transporting stolen Ukrainian grain from Russian-occupied Berdiansk, the CFTS portal reports, citing the Ukrainska Pravda publication.
"Thanks to prompt intervention by the relevant Ukrainian authorities, this vessel was unable to unload the stolen goods and was detained. A request to arrest the vessel and its cargo was sent to the Turkish side. However, it ignored the Ukrainian side’s request and released the vessel on the evening of 6 July," the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
The ministry emphasized that Ukraine "received this information with deep disappointment and urgently requests that the Turkish side investigate this situation and provide a comprehensive response to the requests from the relevant Ukrainian authorities and take all possible measures to prevent such cases in the future."
According to the statement, the Turkish ambassador in Kyiv was summoned to the Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Ministry to clarify the situation.
"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ukraine’s international partners condemn the criminal actions of the Russian Federation regarding the theft and export of grain from Ukrainian territory to foreign countries. The Zhibek Zholy ship, which was transporting stolen grain from occupied Berdiansk to the Turkish port of Karasu, was a particularly egregious case," the ministry said.
As reported previously, the Zhibek Zholy was the first ship that the Russian occupiers sent from the port of Berdiansk after capturing it. According to available information, 7,000 tons of grain stolen in Ukraine by the invaders was loaded onto the ship.
