In the Odesa port, law enforcement officers detained and arrested a Russian dry cargo ship that was accused of transporting Ukrainian agricultural products through the occupied Crimea, Ukraine’s Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said on Dec. 10.
The Security Service of Ukraine reported that the vessel is Russian-controlled and used for exports of Ukrainian agricultural products from Crimea.
According to the prosecutor’s office and SBU, the ship has repeatedly undergone changes in its name.
The SBU said it located the ship in the commercial port of Odesa, where it had arrived under the flag of an African state to export a batch of steel pipes.
They allege that prior to the full-scale war, the vessel called at Sevastopol at least seven times, where it engaged in exports of agricultural products for Russia’s benefit. The SBU asserts the ship loaded over 6,900 tons of Ukrainian wheat at the Sevastopol port in January 2021 and exported it to North Africa.
In December 2025, the ship, flying the flag of one of the African states, again arrived at the Odesa commercial port. As a result of joint actions by Ukrainian law enforcement, it was detained.
According to the SBU, searches on the vessel uncovered technical means and documentation containing evidence of calls to ports in occupied Crimea. Particularly, voyage plans, pilot cards, cartographic materials, and radio‑communication logs were found during the investigation.
SBU investigators have opened criminal proceedings under four articles of the criminal code of Ukraine.
As reported by the service, the vessel was arrested and measures are being taken to transfer the ship to Ukraine’s Asset Recovery and Management Agency (ARMA).
