Ukrainian prosecutors have charged the captain of a Russian cargo ship in his absence over the transport of more than 54,000 tonnes of grain allegedly seized from farmers in occupied Crimea, the Kyiv Independent reports.
The Prosecutor General's Office and the SBU security service said it was the first time such a case had been treated as a war crime. The vessel, Matros Pozynich, is said to have made two voyages from Sevastopol to the Syrian port of Latakia in 2022 and 2023, each carrying about 27,000 tonnes.
Acting Prosecutor General Anton Kovalskyi said a legal basis now existed to classify a captain's role in removing illegally seized grain as a war crime. The SBU said the captain had followed orders from senior Russian officials in breach of the Geneva Conventions' ban on looting.
Source: Kyiv Independent
