The Kyiv embassy in Beirut called for an investigation to be reopened.. Lebanon allows the departure of a ship accused of transporting stolen Ukrainian grain

The Lebanese transport authorities allowed a ship accused by Ukraine of transporting stolen grain to leave the port of Tripoli, despite the Ukrainian embassy's demand for Beirut to reopen an investigation into the matter after presenting what it said was new evidence.

The Lebanese Minister of Transport, Ali Hamiyah, told Reuters yesterday evening, Wednesday, that the Tripoli port authorities had allowed the ship to sail.

He indicated in a tweet on his Twitter account that the decision came "in accordance with the Lebanese legal principles, based on our sovereignty over our land, sea and air."

Earlier on Wednesday, Ukraine asked the Lebanese public prosecutor to reopen an investigation into the Syrian-flagged ship Laodicea, which Kyiv says carries about 10,000 tons of flour and barley that Russia stole after the war began last February.

Ukraine's ambassador to Lebanon, Ihor Ostach, said at a press conference at the embassy near Beirut that the request for further investigations is based on new evidence collected by a Ukrainian judge and delivered to Lebanon last Monday.

The Lebanese Public Prosecutor, Ghassan Oweidat, raised the first seizure order for the vessel Laodicea, which he had issued last week, after it became clear to him that there was no criminal suspicion.

A judge in Tripoli told Reuters that a second 72-hour detention order issued on Monday was no longer valid and the ship could leave now.

Moscow has previously denied the grain theft charge.

The Russian embassy in Lebanon said it had no information about the ship or the shipment.

An official in the company that owns the cargo also denied it had been stolen and said the ship would sail to Syria.

Ukrainian authorities say Laodicea traveled to a port closed to international shipping in Russia-occupied Crimea, and transported a cargo from there before sailing to Lebanon.

The Ukrainian ambassador said that Kyiv had offered to sell the whole shipment of the ship to Lebanon at about half its international price if Lebanon confiscated it, adding that the ship was carrying 26,000 tons of corn.

The ambassador noted that Ukraine remains committed to supporting Lebanon with grain shipments while tackling the problem of shortages of basic commodities including wheat since the financial collapse 3 years ago.