Zelenskyy imposes sanctions on looters of Ukraine’s occupied territories

The restrictions apply to 62 individuals and legal entities, including representatives of the shadowy grain fleet of Russia, as well as heads of Russian museums.

Sanctions against asset abductors

Decree No. 579/2025 covers the package of Asset Abductors from the temporarily occupied territories. The package includes many companies that were registered under the laws of Russia after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine started and, as noted, appropriated the property of Ukrainian enterprises.

In particular:

• Dniprorudnenskyi Zalizorudnyi Kombinat LLC expropriated the assets of Zaporizkyi Zalizorudnyi Kombinat and is developing the Pivdenno-Bilozirske iron ore deposit
• Yekaterynivskyi Karier LLC uses the facilities of Ukrainian Ukrroskaolin LLC to extract kaolin at the Katerynivske deposit in the Donetsk region.
• Nika Trade Invest LLC is engaged in mining at the Bila Balka deposit, using the assets of Donbasnerudprom and Donbaskeramika LLC.

These companies reportedly receive profits from the development of Ukrainian subsoil, pay taxes to the Russian budget, and manufacture products that can potentially be used by the Russian military-industrial complex.

Sanctions were also imposed on companies involved in the transportation of Ukrainian grain:

• TD Idealprod LLC, which, according to the authorities, exported up to 650,000 tons of grain to Egypt
• Crane Marine Contractor LLC, which owns the vessels Mikhail Nenashev, Matros Koshka, and Matros Pozinich, which transported grain from the temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories
• Captains Yuriy Belyakov and Vyacheslav Vidanov, who were in charge of the ZAFAR vessel, which was recorded during the transportation of grain from Crimea to Yemen in 2024.

Among the legal entities mentioned is the Dniprorudnensky Iron Ore Plant in the temporarily occupied territory of the Zaporizhzhia region, an enterprise created based on expropriated Ukrainian assets.

Sanctions against so-called museum workers

The second decree, No. 580/2025, targets 15 people involved in the misappropriation of Ukrainian cultural property and attempts to integrate occupied museums into the Russian system.

Among the defendants in the package:

• Yulia Kupina, director of the Russian Ethnographic Museum, opened the exhibition Multinational Russia in occupied Berdiansk with exhibits from Ukrainian collections
• Artem Silkin and Galina Alekseeva who are running for the governing bodies of the International Council of Museums (ICOM).

"Thanks to the activities of these individuals, Ukrainian museum values are being integrated into the Russian catalog. As of March 2025, 39 Ukrainian museums from the territories occupied after February 2022 are already present in the open part of the Russian catalog, while in August 2024, there were only six such museums," Vlasiuk said.

Sanctions against Russia

This week, Zelenskyy imposed sanctions against Russia's shadow fleet by signing a law previously passed by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.

The document states that sanctions and arrests of Russian vessels will strengthen Ukraine's security and limit the Kremlin's ability to support military actions through enrichment from shadow transportation.