Ukraine and Israel dispute alleged stolen grain shipments

A dispute over allegedly looted Ukrainian grain has pushed Kyiv and Israel into a sharp diplomatic clash, opening another front in the international fallout from Russia’s war.

Ukraine, one of the world’s biggest grain exporters, has for months accused Russia of shipping out agricultural goods taken from occupied areas seized after Moscow’s February 2022 invasion.

“Another vessel carrying such grain has arrived at a port in Israel and is preparing to unload,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote in a statement on social media.

“The Israeli authorities cannot be unaware of which ships are arriving at the country’s ports and what cargo they are carrying,” he added.

Israel pushed back publicly, saying Kyiv had not presented the material needed to support the accusation.

“The Ukrainian government has not submitted a request for legal assistance… nor has the Ukrainian government provided evidence for its claims,” Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said at a news conference in response to a question.

“The vessel has not entered the port and is yet to submit its documents,” he said.

“It’s not possible to verify the truth of the Ukrainian claims regarding the forgery of the bill of lading,” Mr Saar added, referring to a document showing the details of products being transported.

Criticising what he described as “Twitter diplomacy”, Mr Saar said to Ukraine: “If you have any evidence of theft, submit it through the appropriate channels.”

Ukraine alleges Russia stole more than two million tonnes of grain from occupied territory in 2025. It said it had tracked shipments to Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Europe.

Kyiv summoned Israel’s ambassador to protest over the alleged shipments.

Russia says it has annexed large parts of southern and eastern Ukraine, including key Black Sea export hubs.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the disagreement between Israel and Ukraine was for those two countries to settle, declining to address the allegations themselves.

“We would rather not comment on this in any way or get involved in this matter,” he told journalists, including from AFP, during a briefing.

Explosions heard in Kyiv during rare daytime attack

Kyiv was rattled by explosions today as officials urged residents to seek shelter during an uncommon daytime Russian drone assault on the capital.

Since launching its invasion more than four years ago, Russia has repeatedly battered Ukrainian cities, with most long-range aerial strikes carried out after dark.

Russia has pummelled Ukrainian cities for more than four years since invading the country

Air raid sirens sounded across Kyiv, and at least one powerful blast was heard over the city shortly after 2.15pm local time.

City officials said air defence units were responding to Russian drones flying above the capital.

According to an official notification system, the air raid warning was lifted 49 minutes later.

The mayor of Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko, said two people were hurt as a result of the attack.

In recent months, both Kyiv and Moscow have intensified their aerial campaigns, with energy facilities emerging as a main target on both sides.

Meanwhile, the Kremlin has said that ⁠Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil depots were further increasing oil shortages on global markets and provoking additional destabilisation, Russian ‌state-run RIA ⁠news agency reported.

A Ukrainian drone attack caused a major fire at a Russian oil refinery in the ‌city of Tuapse, ⁠officials said, in the ‌third attack on the Black Sea ⁠port ‌in less than two weeks.

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered ⁠the emergencies minister to fly to ⁠Tuapse and take charge of firefighting efforts there, TASS reported.

Russia’s Defence Minister Andrei ⁠Belousov added that Europe’s supply of drones to Kyiv for strikes on Russian ‌territory ⁠could lead to unpredictable consequences, Interfax news agency reported.

Earlier in April the defence ministry ‌said it believed governments in a ⁠number of ‌EU countries had decided to ⁠increase the ‌production and supply of drones to Ukraine, ⁠a move Moscow views as ⁠a step that is escalating the conflict.

Hungary’s PM-elect Magyar offers to meet Zelensky in June

Hungary’s prime minister-elect Peter Magyar has proposed a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, saying he wants to “open a new chapter in bilateral relations” and tackle a years-long dispute over the rights of ethnic Hungarians in Ukraine.

Ties between the neighbours had sunk to their lowest point ahead of Hungary’s 12 April election, in which Mr Magyar defeated long-serving nationalist premier Viktor Orban.

Mr Orban, who was ousted after 16 years in power, had repeatedly used the central European country’s veto power to stall financial assistance to Ukraine and sanctions against Russia in the EU.

“I am initiating a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for early June, symbolically in Berehove, which has a Hungarian majority,” Mr Magyar said in a Facebook post after meeting the mayor of the Ukrainian city in Budapest.

“The purpose of the meeting is to help improve the situation of Hungarians in Transcarpathia and enable them to remain in their homeland,” he added.

Ukraine’s western Transcarpathia region is home to a sizeable ethnic Hungarian community.

The rift first deepened in 2017, when Kyiv passed a law making Ukrainian the main language for secondary education.

Hungary said the law disenfranchised tens of thousands of ethnic Hungarians, who live mostly in Ukraine’s westernmost region of Transcarpathia – part of the former Kingdom of Hungary until the end of World War I.

“The time has come for Ukraine to lift the legal restrictions that have been in place for more than a decade and for the Hungarians of Transcarpathia to regain all their cultural, linguistic, administrative, and higher education rights, so that they may once again become equal and respected citizens of Ukraine,” Mr Magyar said.

“If we can resolve these issues, we can certainly open a new chapter in Ukrainian-Hungarian bilateral relations,” he added.