In response to the decision of the National Security and Defense Council on the application of personal special economic and other restrictive measures (sanctions), the relevant Decree President Vladimir Zelensky and the Prime Minister's statement Yulia Sviridenko — Group DF categorically rejects sanctions against the founder, a Ukrainian citizen Dmitry Firtash and the Group's companies as unlawful and politically motivated.
The image is associative. Source: Group DF
As the NADRA.INFO, Group DF issued an official statement on Tuesday, February 03, 2026.
The Group reminds that for the fourth year running, its enterprises have been under systemic pressure outside of judicial and legal procedures, which has blocked the normal operation of their businesses.
Group DF's statement stated that the main purpose of the sanctions is to revoke the Group's special permits for subsoil use and to seize assets without any court decisions, and that the Government's public statements about the need to "return licenses to the state" and subsequently "transfer them to new investors" effectively confirm this goal.
What did Group DF respond?
"We insist that this is an illegal administrative seizure of assets under the guise of sanctions. This creates a dangerous precedent, whereby property rights become a relative concept, and any licenses and assets in strategic sectors that are the subject of interest can be seized by political decision—without a trial or compensation for claims.", - he said.
The group emphasizes that Group DF's businesses are operating enterprises that generate stable tax revenues for budgets at all levels, fulfill social obligations, fulfill commitments to contractors, and invest in development. Specifically, it notes that approximately $160 million has been invested in the Motronovsky Mining and Processing Plant alone, and the processing plant is 60% complete. "As a result of the sanctions, construction of the plant was suspended, and the enterprise's operations were blocked. The new sanctions are hitting not only the Group's businesses, but also, most importantly, the Group's more than 9,5 employees, the regions where it operates, and the entire national economy.".
"We consider this approach a direct violation of the rule of law and the protection of property rights. Sanctions cannot and should not be used as a tool for asset raiding and pressure on businesses. Such practices undermine trust in government institutions and directly harm Ukraine's reputation. We will consistently defend the rights of Group DF and its companies in all matters and their property rights.", the Group states.
Group DF lawyer Roman Chishinsky believes the deprivation of the Group's companies' subsoil use rights under sanctions is an "illegal practice":
"We are already challenging the sanctions against Dmytro Firtash imposed in 2021 and 2024 in court: case No. 9901/332/21 "On the recognition as illegal and cancellation of the Decree of the President of Ukraine dated June 24, 2021 No. 266/2020/2" and the cancellation of the Decree of the President of Ukraine dated June 24, 2022 No. 3." Also, since 2021, case No. 9901/318/21 "On the recognition as illegal and cancellation of the Decree of the President of Ukraine dated June 24, 2021 No. 266/2021" has been pending before the Supreme Court. The 2021 sanctions have already revoked the Group's special permit for subsoil use and seized assets without any court decisions.
In 2026, the state repeated this illegal practice and revoked a number of the Group's licenses. Unfortunately, we see that court proceedings are systematically closed and inaccessible to the press, postponed, and otherwise delayed by the sanctions' initiators. Not a single case, starting in 2021, has been heard. To date, the defendant has not presented any facts or evidence of violations of the law by the Group's shareholder or any of the Group's businesses at court hearings that could serve as grounds for imposing sanctions. The Group has provided extensive materials confirming the unjustified nature of the sanctions. In this light, the continuation and duplication of sanctions expansion in 2026 appears to be a deliberate move to take these proceedings outside the legal framework.
In fact, Dmytro Firtash is the only Ukrainian citizen to be subject to sanctions three times in a row, despite Ukrainian law not allowing sanctions against its own citizens. We emphasize that the British sanctions publicly cited by the Ukrainian authorities are not independent and are not based on any new investigations or evidence from the UK. They were imposed in tandem with the Ukrainian sanctions and the charges brought by the United States. The US charges, in turn, lack legal support. Dmytro Firtash's extradition to the United States was blocked by an Austrian court, which clearly demonstrates the lack of sufficient legal grounds for criminal prosecution.
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As a reminder, according to the Decree of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy № 94 / 2026, special permits for subsoil use of three companies from Group DF are subject to termination (cancellation):
- Special permit No. 2578, granted to Valki-Ilmenit LLC for the extraction of titanium ores from the Valki-Gatskivske deposit (Zhytomyr region) (in 2021, this company's special permit No. 3590 for Stremigorod was revoked based on a decision of the National Security and Defense Council of the State Geological Survey of the Russian Federation (Ed.);
- No. 2694 — Mezhdurechensk Mining and Processing Plant LLC, extraction of titanium ores from the Mezhdurechensk deposit (Zhytomyr region);
- No. 3640 — Motronovsky Mining and Processing Plant LLC, extraction of zircon-rutile-ilmenite-bearing sands from the Malyshevskoye deposit (Dnipropetrovsk region).
Sanctions were also imposed on Tiberius Plus LLC, in whose favor the Motronovsky Mining and Processing Plant was transferred in 2024. sold special permit No. 3640 for the Malyshevskoye deposit (alienation did not occur, despite the obligation for Gosgeonadr the court's decision).
The Presidential Decree also included special permit No. 3735 for the extraction of groundwater, drinking water, and industrial water from the Borovskoye deposit of the Severodonetsk Azot Association, a private joint-stock company. This special permit is subject to suspension, not revocation—even though it has been suspended since 2021, and the subsoil site is located in the temporarily occupied territory of the Luhansk Oblast.
The Presidential Decree does not mention special permits issued by Rivne Azot PJSC (also part of Dmitry Firtash's corporate group) for the use of groundwater in the Rivne region.
According to Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko, it can be concluded that the creation of legal grounds for revoking Group DF's titanium special permits was a consequence of Ukraine's synchronization with the UK's sanctions policy. Going forward, "strategic assets will be transferred to new investors through transparent auctions."
Subsoil use rights for Group DF companies stopped In 2023–2024, the state's losses as a result of the sanctions-induced downtime of titanium assets in the Firtash group were estimated at no less than UAH 126 million.
Titanium ores in Ukraine are included in List of minerals and components of strategic and critical importanceTitan is also mentioned in the list. useful components, new production projects of which will fill the Ukrainian-American investment recovery fund.
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