The Eastern Appellate Commercial Court ruled in favor of PJSC "Alchevsk Coke and Chemical Plant" (AKHZ), ordering the Russian Federation to pay over 927.5 million UAH in compensation for the destruction of critically important documentation of the enterprise.
According to a press release from the law firm "Ilyashev and Partners" on Thursday, the court made its decision on February 5 of this year.
It is noted that the previous ruling of the Commercial Court of Luhansk Oblast, which denied the claim, has been overturned.
Furthermore, it is reminded that the Alchevsk Coke and Chemical Plant is one of the largest enterprises in Ukraine, producing coke for the industry. After the occupation of Alchevsk in 2014, the plant lost its ability to operate, and important documents confirming its financial claims, including those against PJSC "Dniprovskyi Metallurgical Plant" (DMK), were destroyed. This made it impossible to recover debts from contractors and resulted in significant losses.
In 2021, the Commercial Court of Luhansk Oblast declared AKHZ bankrupt and initiated liquidation proceedings. In July 2024, an arbitration manager, Alexander Kamsha, head of the Dnipro office of the law firm "Ilyashev and Partners," was appointed as the liquidator of the enterprise.
"This decision is another step in the fight for compensation for the losses incurred by Ukrainian enterprises due to the war. We proved in court that the destruction of documents due to military aggression directly deprived the enterprise of the opportunity to protect its interests. This is yet another step towards international justice and compensation for all losses inflicted on Ukraine," emphasized Kamsha.
The next planned steps in executing the decision to recover damages will involve searching for Russian assets in other countries and addressing the issue of seizing these assets to settle the debt. This is a lengthy process; however, such actions should lead to a positive outcome for AKHZ and compensation for the damages caused by the Russian Federation, which, in turn, will allow the funds received to be directed to the accounts of AKHZ's creditors within the bankruptcy procedure.
The press release states that this is already the second court ruling to recover damages from the Russian Federation caused to AKHZ. On February 12, 2024, thanks to the work of the law firm "Ilyashev and Partners," the Commercial Court of Luhansk Oblast ruled to recover $292 million in damages inflicted on one of the largest coke chemical enterprises in Ukraine as a result of Russian aggression, the press service summarizes.