Ukraine in diplomatic tussle with Israel over grain

KYIV: Ukraine and Israel traded diplomatic blows on Tuesday as President Volodymyr Zelenskiy condemned what he said were grain purchases from occupied Ukrainian territory “stolen” by Russia and threatened sanctions against those attempting to profit from it.

Kyiv considers all grain produced in the four regions that Russia claims as its own since invading Ukraine in 2022 as well as Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014, to be stolen and has protested over its export to other countries.

Russia calls the regions its “new territories”, but they are still internationally recognised as Ukrainian. Moscow has not commented on the legal status of grain collected in them.