Ship authorized by UN to deliver grain to Houthis loads stolen grain again in Crimea

Bulk carrier “Zafar” (IMO: 9720263) loaded approximately 30 thousand tons of Ukrainian wheat in occupied Sevastopol.

This was reported by Kateryna Yaresko, a journalist for the SeaKrime project of the Peacemaker Center.

According to her, the vessel “Zafar” (IMO: 9720263) under the Russian flag loaded approximately 30 thousand tons of wheat at the Avlita grain terminal in occupied Sevastopol from September 21 to 28.

“The offender arrived from Alexandria to the Black Sea on July 26, that is, the vessel was not working for two months, and for now it has been 55 days with the AIS turned off. And this is a typical phenomenon, there are many vessels waiting in line for loading near the occupied Crimea. This cannot be profitable from a business point of view, so completely different factors are at work here,” Kateryna Yaresko emphasized.

The Defense Intelligence War&Sanctions portal notes that “Zafar” has been under US sanctions since April 2025, as the vessel delivered at least two consignments of stolen Ukrainian grain from the Crimean TOT to Yemen, organized in the summer and autumn of 2024 by sanctioned Russian-Afghan businessmen Khushang Gayrat and his brother Sohrab Gayrat.

As a reminder, in July 2024, the vessel received UN permission to unload Ukrainian grain in the port of Salif (Yemen). Thus, the stolen grain was delivered from the temporarily occupied Sevastopol to Yemen for the first time.