Images were taken in Sevastopol, a port on the Crimean peninsula, which Russia has occupied and ruled since 2014.

Satellite images obtained by CNN on Tuesday revealed how the Russians appear to be expanding the theft of grain grown in Ukraine, one of the world’s top grain exporters, as the war continues. The pictures were taken in the port of Sevastopol, which is on the Crimean peninsula. Since 2014, Russia has occupied and ruled this area.

Two Russian-flagged bulk containers are seen docking and loading what appears to be stolen Ukrainian grain. Already, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had accused Russia of “gradually stealing” Ukrainian food items and attempting to export them while taking advantage of the war.

The new images, obtained by Maxar Technologies and dated May 19 and 21, show the ships, the Matros Pozynich and the Matros Koshka, berthed next to what appear to be grain silos, with grain spilling out into an open hold, says CNN. According to the ship tracking website MarineTraffic.com, both ships have already left port, with the Matros Pozynich cruising through the Aegean Sea on its way to Beirut and the Matros Koshka still in the Black Sea.

CNN admits that it’s impossible to tell for sure if the ship is carrying stolen Ukrainian grain, but Crimea produces little grain compared to Ukrainian provinces rich in these items, such as Kherson and Zaporizhia, which are near the peninsula and are now also under Russian authority. Russian military in the seized territory emptied multiple silos and trucked the grain south, according to Ukrainian officials and grain industry sources.

The Matros Pozynich completed a similar trip earlier this month, carrying grain and sailing from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean. According to the Ukrainian authorities, she was originally planning to ship her cargo to Egypt but was turned back at Alexandria after receiving a warning from Ukrainian officials. She was also denied entry to Beirut, eventually mooring in Syria’s Latakia, where Russia has long backed Assad’s Bashar al-dictatorship.

At the same time, Russia has been preventing Ukraine from exporting goods from its ports, fueling fears of a global food crisis. 

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that the international community must assist Ukraine in unblocking seaports, or else the energy crisis will be followed by a food catastrophe, affecting many more countries.

“Russia has blocked almost all ports and all, so to speak, maritime opportunities to export food – our grain, barley, sunflower and more. A lot of things,” he said.

According to the US State Department, Russian and Ukrainian wheat shipments accounted for about 30% of global trade before the start of the war, and Ukraine is the world’s fourth-largest exporter of corn and fifth-largest exporter of wheat.

Image credit: CNN & Maxar

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