An empty Russian freighter arrived in the port city of Mariupol around noon on Saturday to pick up 2,700 tons of steel, Russia’s TASS news agency reported.
It is the first Russian ship to dock in Mariupol since Russian troops captured the port. According to the TV channel Zvezda, affiliated with the Russian Defense Ministry, the metal is being shipped to Russia as “part of an order” allegedly placed for the invasion of Ukraine.
On Friday, the Ukrainian company Metinvest, owner of the hotly contested Azovstal plant, warned that Russia would take the products ready for export to Asia and Africa.
Ukraine describes the action as looting. “After the theft of Ukrainian grain, the occupiers are now switching to metal products from Mariupol,” Lyudmila Denisova, Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman, reported on her Telegram account.