Egypt will refuse to buy Russian shipments of grain sourced in occupied Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced on Friday.
“Spoke with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who told me Egypt will no longer accept grain exported by Russia from our temporarily occupied territories,” Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram, adding that Cairo had expressed an interest in increasing grain imports from Ukraine.
The move marks a major shift in Egyptian policy. The country is the world’s largest wheat importer, and in a recent interview Russia’s ambassador to Egypt said Cairo purchased 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 impact on the global oil market. The Ukrainian president wrote that Kyiv offered Cairo “military-technical cooperation” and agreed to continue discussions on this matter.