Turkish customs authorities have detained a cargo ship carrying grain from a Russian-occupied region of Ukraine, according to the Ukrainian ambassador to Turkey.
Vasyl Bodnar says “There is complete cooperation. The ship is currently at the port’s entrance, where it has been detained by Turkish customs officials “.
We followed the Russian-flagged ship Zhibek Zholy from the Ukrainian port of Berdyansk to the Turkish Black Sea port of Karasu.
It is unclear where its cargo originated or how it was obtained, but Russia has been accused of stealing grain from regions of Ukraine that it controls, which Russia denies.
Berdyansk is located on the Sea of Azov in the southern Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine.
Yevhen Balytskyi, who was recently appointed by Russia as governor of the occupied areas of Zaporizhzhia, announced the ship’s departure from Berdyansk via the social media application Telegram.
Mr. Balytskyi stated that 7,000 tonnes of grain would be shipped to “friendly” nations.
The port has also been cleared of sea mines, he said.
Later, he revised the post by removing references to the ship’s cargo and destination.
A video news report about the ship’s departure has also been shared on several pro-Kremlin Telegram channels, showing the ship alongside a Russian naval vessel in a port identified by the reporter as Berdyansk.
We were able to confirm that it was filmed in Berdyansk by comparing the video footage to satellite imagery of the port.
The weather conditions and the angle of the shadows along the harbor indicate that the video was shot on the morning of June 28.
Some aspects of the ship’s hull, including its name, were obscured in the video. Based on images from the Telegram posts and eyewitness accounts provided by a Ukrainian shipping expert, we have confirmed that the ship that left Berdyansk is the same one lying off the coast of Turkey.
We have also been able to track the Zhibek Zholy’s earlier movements as it traveled towards Ukraine to pick up its cargo.
The ship left Turkey on 22 June, delivering its cargo to the Russian port of Novorossiysk. As it then approached the Ukrainian coastline, its tracking signal disappeared, indicating that it had been deactivated.
Only on June 29 did the signal reappear as it headed south away from the Ukrainian coast. In addition to reporting the ship’s water depth, this tracker indicated that the vessel had taken on cargo.
According to Michelle Bockmann, markets editor at Lloyd’s List Intelligence, this behavior is “suspicious.”
She reports that many cargo ships disable their trackers for a portion of their voyages in the Sea of Azov, but resume transmissions once they reach their destination port.
It is unclear whether the ship intends to unload its cargo in the Turkish port of Karasu or continue its journey south through the Bosphorus Strait to a destination that has not yet been determined.
The registered owner of the Zhibek Zholy, a Kazakh company named KTZ Express, has confirmed to Reuters that the vessel has been chartered by a Russian company. It added that it was consulting with the involved parties and that it would adhere to all sanctions and restrictions.
