“We remain ready to target such actions by listing individuals and entities in third countries [Israel] if necessary,” the EU had warned on Thursday.
Andrew Rettman
Israel has barred a Russian grain ship after the threat of EU sanctions, as Moscow meanwhile enlisted US president Donald Trump to protect its 9 May military parade.
The Israeli Grain Importers Association said on Thursday (30 April) it “has been forced to turn away the Russian vessel [Panormitis] carrying a wheat shipment at the centre of the dispute with Ukraine” and told the Russian supplier “to find an alternative destination to unload”.
The Panormitis had been carrying some 6,000 tonnes of grain worth $7m (€6m) from occupied Ukrainian territory to Israel’s port of Haifa, as part of wider Russian operations which have “stolen” 850,000 tonnes of grain so far, according to Kyiv.
The Ukrainian foreign ministry had waged a public battle with Israel to stop the black market trade.
And the EU was threatening Israelis involved in it with sanctions as late as Thursday in press briefings in Brussels.
EU ambassadors in Israel had complained to the Israeli foreign ministry, said an EU Commission spokesman on Thursday.
“We condemn all actions that help fund Russia’s illegal war effort and circumvent EU sanctions. And indeed, we remain ready to target such actions by listing individuals and entities in third countries [Israel] if necessary,” he said.
The EU has already listed Chinese, Indian, UAE, and EU nationals in previous rounds of Russia sanctions.
It has also blacklisted extremist Israeli settlers for human rights violations and frozen €14m of cultural grants for what UN experts called Israel’s “genocide” in Gaza, but stopped short of trade sanctions.
“Israel is a state that abides by the rule of law … All Israeli authorities will act in accordance with the law,” said Israeli foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar on X on Monday, referring to the grain-ship dispute.
The Ukrainian request for legal assistance, submitted on Tuesday night, April 28, contained significant factual gaps and did not include any supporting evidence.
The Israel Police reached out to the Ukrainian Prosecution with a request to provide additional information and…
— Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) April 30, 2026
Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sibyha welcomed Israel’s decision on Thursday.
“This is also a clear signal to all other vessels, captains, operators, insurers, and governments: do not buy stolen Ukrainian grain. Do not become part of this crime,” he said on X.
“We continue to track this particular vessel [Panormitis] and warn everyone against any operations with it,” Sibyha added.
Putin’s parade at risk
But Kyiv and Brussels also faced fresh concerns on US loyalties one day earlier, when Russian president Vladimir Putin claimed Trump had agreed that Ukraine should not attack his military parade in Moscow on 9 May.
The Kremlin’s read-out of a 90-minute Putin-Trump call on Wednesday said Putin wanted a “ceasefire for the period of the Victory Day celebrations” and that “president Trump actively supported this initiative, noting that the holiday marks the shared victory over Nazism in World War II”.
An EU Commission spokeswoman said in Brussels on Thursday that Russia had twisted the memorial event into a glorification of its war against Ukraine.
