Ukrainian grain is loaded onto barges in the Black Sea port of Reni. Photo: Reuters/Sergii Kharchenko

An Israeli cargo vessel broke through the Russian blockade of Ukraine’s ports on the Black Sea on Monday according to local media reports, drawing praise from Ukrainian commentators for “spitting in the face of the Russians,” as one of them put it.

Military analysts following the progress of the ship, the Ams1, observed that it had left the Israeli port of Ashdod on Sunday, entering the Ukrainian sector of the Danube on Monday morning without drawing Russian fire, despite reported Russian threats ordering it to turn back. They noted too that it was the first ship to break the blockade since the July 24 Russian drone assault on the port of Reni on the Danube, which came one week after President Vladimir Putin’s regime withdrew from a UN-brokered sea corridor agreement that allowed for the export of Ukrainian grain.

After the Ams1 successfully entered Ukrainian waters, it was followed by four more vessels: the Sahin 2, which also sails under an Israeli flag, as well as the Turkish-flagged Yilmaz Kaptan, the Greek-flagged Sealock and the Georgian-flagged Afer.

The ships were reportedly assisted in their journey by the US P8 Poseidon, an anti-aircraft submarine, as well as reconnaissance drones.

“It seems someone has figured out how to spit in the face of the Russians,” Maria Drutska, a Ukrainian commentator on military affairs, tweeted. “Congratulations!”

In a speech on Saturday, Putin expressed satisfaction that the blockade had raised grain prices on the world market “a little,” arguing that this would boost revenues to Russian companies. He also pledged, without offering further detail, to “share” part of the income with the “world’s poorest countries,” many of whom are dependent on imports of grain from Ukraine.

Putin named six conditions for Russia to rejoin the grain export deal — brokered under UN auspices in July 2022 — including enabling the export of grain produced in Russia and reconnecting the country’s banks to the SWIFT international payments system.