Egypt will refuse to buy Russian grain shipments found in occupied Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced Friday.
“I spoke with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who told me that Egypt will no longer accept grain exported by Russia from our occupied territories,” Zelenskyy wrote on Telegramadding that Cairo has shown interest in increasing grain imports from Ukraine.
The move marks a major change in Egyptian policy. The country is the country that imports the most wheat in the world, and in a recent interview the Russian ambassador to Egypt he said Cairo bought more than 8 million tons of Russian grain in 2025.
According to Zelenskyy, he also discussed the ongoing war in the Middle East during his conversation with al-Sisi, as well as its effects on the global oil market. The President of Ukraine wrote that Kyiv offered Cairo “military and technical cooperation” and agreed to continue discussions on this issue.
