Satellite imagery, ship data indicates path of Russian vessel Kyiv says shipped “looted” grain

FILE PHOTO: A satellite image from Planet Labs PBC shows a ship in Novorossiysk, Russia on May 29, 2022 that Reuters identified via ship-tracking data to be the SV Nikolay. Planet Labs PBC/Handout via REUTERS

(Reuters) - Late last month, a Russian-flagged cargo ship carrying corn pulled into the Turkish port of Izmir on the Aegean Sea. The SV Nikolay had loaded the grain at Port Kavkaz, in Russia, six days earlier on June 18, according to documentation provided by an employee of the Russian company that owns the ship.

A Reuters analysis of satellite imagery, ship-tracking data and open-source photos and videos yields a different port of origin for the SV Nikolay. On June 18, Reuters’ analysis of a satellite image indicates, the ship was docked at the main grain terminal in Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula seized by Russia in 2014.