A Ukrainian source told Euronews that "if Israel had responded to other appeals through diplomatic channels, tweets would have been unnecessary", after Israel’s foreign minister criticised what he termed "Twitter diplomacy."
Ukraine has officially requested that Israel detain a cargo ship carrying what Kyiv claims is stolen Ukrainian grain, intensifying a diplomatic dispute between the two nations following Israeli officials allowing a similar shipment to unload at the port of Haifa without objections.
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The bulk carrier Panormitis, registered under the Panamanian flag and reportedly transporting more than 6,200 tonnes of wheat alongside 19,000 tonnes of barley, had reached territories near Haifa by 25 April, according to maritime tracking services.
The vessel has been awaiting docking as tensions between Ukraine and Israel over this issue have sharply intensified in recent days.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha declared on Wednesday that Kyiv has formally approached Israel via diplomatic and judicial avenues, “requesting intervention regarding the Panormitis vessel.”
“The Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine has sent an official petition to Israeli authorities based on a ruling from a Ukrainian court to seize the vessel as part of the ongoing inquiry.”
Sybiha reaffirmed that the ship is “suspected of transporting grain illegally taken from a closed port in the temporarily occupied region of Ukraine, infringing upon international law and Ukrainian legislation.”
Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko stated that “the Ukrainian authorities are urging their Israeli counterparts to confiscate the ship and its cargo, conduct searches, seize all related documentation, collect grain samples, and question the crew.”
‘Twitter diplomacy’
Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar responded within ten minutes on X to Sybiha’s message, criticising Kyiv for engaging in what he called “Twitter diplomacy.”
“Legal procedures should have preceded public posts,” Sa’ar commented, emphasizing that Kyiv “opted otherwise” due to “their own considerations.”
He maintained that the arrest petition was submitted “late” Tuesday night and that Kyiv is now “following up with additional tweets.”
“The relevant bodies are currently reviewing the request.”
A high-ranking Ukrainian diplomatic official told Euronews, “Had Israel answered other appeals through proper diplomatic channels, there would have been no need for public tweets.”
Internal sources from Kyiv revealed to Euronews that Ukrainian officials have been urging Israel for “at least six weeks” not to acquire grain stolen by Russia from Ukraine’s occupied territories.
Diplomatic contacts also informed Euronews that Israeli authorities have refrained from commenting on the ship or its cargo itself, instead concentrating solely on how the matter was communicated via social media.
“As none of our efforts yielded results, we decided to take the issue public,” they explained.
Timeline of Kyiv’s requests to Israel
Kyiv disclosed a detailed timeline of its official diplomatic appeals to Israel regarding two shipments of Ukrainian grain taken and sold by Russia.
The initial shipment was unloaded in the Haifa port on 15 April, when the Russian-flagged bulk carrier Abinsk offloaded nearly 44,000 tonnes of stolen Ukrainian wheat onto Israeli soil.
Kyiv specified that it first expressed concerns about this vessel to Israel on 23 April, coinciding with a meeting between Ukraine’s ambassador and Israel’s foreign ministry.
Subsequently, Ukrainian diplomats delivered a formal note addressing the vessel and its cargo comprising stolen Ukrainian grain.
This diplomatic communication persisted continuously from that time onward.
On 20 April, after the Abinsk had completed unloading in Haifa and departed, Ukraine received what it describes as its only official reply.
The foreign ministry notified Kyiv that Israel had no plans to implement concrete measures to halt the illegal trade nor to confiscate the stolen grain shipments or the vessels involved, “citing that the vessel had already departed Israeli waters and that the evidence presented by Ukraine was insufficient.”
Five days afterwards, on 25 April, Ukraine’s embassy in Israel informed the authorities about another ship — the Panormitis — as it neared the same Haifa port.
On Tuesday, Kyiv summoned Israel’s Ambassador Michael Brodsky to demand action concerning the Panormitis.
“Yet again, this information was disregarded,” Ukrainian officials stated.
An investigation by the Israeli news site Haaretz revealed that at least four shipments of stolen Ukrainian grain have been offloaded in Israel this year.
Kyiv estimates that since the onset of the full-scale invasion in 2022, Russia has stolen upwards of 15 million tonnes of Ukrainian grain.