Ukraine, Israel in spat over 'stolen' grain shipments
· RTE.ieUkraine and Israel are locked in a diplomatic row over allegations Israel had accepted shipments of grain which Kyiv said Russia had "stolen" from parts of occupied Ukraine.
One of the world's largest grain producers, Ukraine has repeatedly accused Russia of illegally exporting agricultural products from territory that Moscow has captured since it invaded in February 2022.
"Another vessel carrying such grain has arrived at a port in Israel and is preparing to unload," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote in a statement on social media.
"The Israeli authorities cannot be unaware of which ships are arriving at the country's ports and what cargo they are carrying," he added.
Israel said that Kyiv had not provided evidence to support its claims and rejected that the ship had arrived at the port of Haifa.
"The Ukrainian government has not submitted a request for legal assistance... nor has the Ukrainian government provided evidence for its claims," Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said at a news conference in response to a question.
"The vessel has not entered the port and is yet to submit its documents," he said.
"It's not possible to verify the truth of the Ukrainian claims regarding the forgery of the bill of lading," Mr Saar added, referring to a document showing the details of products being transported.
Hitting out at Ukraine for conducting what he called "Twitter diplomacy", Mr Saar said to Ukraine: "If you have any evidence of theft, submit it through the appropriate channels."
Ukraine alleges Russia stole more than two million tonnes of grain from occupied territory in 2025. It said it had tracked shipments to Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Europe.
Kyiv summoned Israel's ambassador to protest over the alleged shipments.
Russia claims to have annexed swathes of southern and eastern Ukraine, including major export ports on the Black Sea.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the spat between Israel and Ukraine was a matter for the two countries to resolve and did not address the substance of the allegations.
"We would rather not comment on this in any way or get involved in this matter," he told journalists, including from AFP, during a briefing.
Explosions heard in Kyiv during rare daytime attack
Explosions echoed over Kyiv today as Ukrainian officials urged residents to take shelter during a rare daytime Russian drone attack on the capital.
Russia has pummelled Ukrainian cities for more than four years since invading the country, mainly launching long-range aerial barrages at night.
Air raid sirens were heard ringing out in Kyiv, as well as at least one loud boom over the city shortly after 2.15pm local time.
City officials announced that air defence systems were operating against Russian drones flying over the city.
The air raid alert was lifted after 49 minutes, according to an official notification system.
The mayor of Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko, said two people were hurt as a result of the attack.
Kyiv and Moscow have stepped up their aerial attacks over recent months, with both sides mainly targeting energy infrastructure.
Meanwhile, the Kremlin has said that Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil depots were further increasing oil shortages on global markets and provoking additional destabilisation, Russian state-run RIA news agency reported.
A Ukrainian drone attack caused a major fire at a Russian oil refinery in the city of Tuapse, officials said, in the third attack on the Black Sea port in less than two weeks.
Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the emergencies minister to fly to Tuapse and take charge of firefighting efforts there, TASS reported.
Russia's Defence Minister Andrei Belousov added that Europe's supply of drones to Kyiv for strikes on Russian territory could lead to unpredictable consequences, Interfax news agency reported.
Earlier in April the defence ministry said it believed governments in a number of EU countries had decided to increase the production and supply of drones to Ukraine, a move Moscow views as a step that is escalating the conflict.
Hungary's PM-elect Magyar offers to meet Zelensky in June
Hungary's incoming prime minister Peter Magyar has offered to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to "open a new chapter in bilateral relations" and address a long-running feud over the rights of Ukraine's ethnic Hungarians.
Relations between the two neighbours hit rock bottom before Hungary's 12 April election that saw Mr Magyar beat long-time nationalist premier Viktor Orban.
Mr Orban, who was ousted after 16 years in power, had repeatedly used the central European country's veto power to stall financial assistance to Ukraine and sanctions against Russia in the EU.
"I am initiating a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for early June, symbolically in Berehove, which has a Hungarian majority," Mr Magyar said in a Facebook post after meeting the mayor of the Ukrainian city in Budapest.
"The purpose of the meeting is to help improve the situation of Hungarians in Transcarpathia and enable them to remain in their homeland," he added.
Ukraine's western Transcarpathia region is home to a sizeable ethnic Hungarian community.
Relations first soured in 2017 when Kyiv adopted a law mandating Ukrainian as the main language for secondary education.
Hungary said the law disenfranchised tens of thousands of ethnic Hungarians, who live mostly in Ukraine's westernmost region of Transcarpathia - part of the former Kingdom of Hungary until the end of World War I.
"The time has come for Ukraine to lift the legal restrictions that have been in place for more than a decade and for the Hungarians of Transcarpathia to regain all their cultural, linguistic, administrative, and higher education rights, so that they may once again become equal and respected citizens of Ukraine," Mr Magyar said.
"If we can resolve these issues, we can certainly open a new chapter in Ukrainian-Hungarian bilateral relations," he added.