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Ship detained in Reni

Ukraine's security services have seized the Usko Mfu for allegedly transporting grain illegally through the closed Black Sea ports of Russian-occupied Crimea, the country's General Prosecutor’s Office said on July 11, 2024. The ship had entered and exited the Port of Sevastopol on the occupied Crimean peninsula in November 2023 and again this May, violating a Ukrainian ban and international maritime law. While in Sevastopol the cargo ship was loaded with more than 3,000 tons of grain and subsequently entered the Port of Sevastopol to unload cargo from Turkey. The investigators argued the ship’s crew knew they were violating international law, because before entering Sevastopol they switched off the AIS, making its movements harder to track. The prosecutors detained the vessel on the basis of a court order. On board they discovered documents issued by the Sevastopol trade port administration to the crew. The ship’s captain, an Azerbaijani citizen, is also suspected of illegally crossing the border of the occupied part of Ukraine. The Ukrainian court must now decide what measures to take against the ship's captain, and must turn the vessel over to a state agency that handles seized assets.