Luhansk court orders Russia to cover $1.6 million in missing sunflower seeds

The Commercial Court of Luhansk Oblast has ordered Russia to pay UAH 65.36 million, approximately US$1.6 million, to Oliiar. The compensation covers a specific stock of sunflower seeds that vanished from a storage facility in occupied Svatove. The court ruled that the loss was a direct consequence of the armed aggression by Russian forces.

Oliiar, a private firm registered in Pustomyty, Lviv Oblast, entered a contract in October 2021 to buy 4,700 tonnes of the 2021 harvest. The supplier was Prydniprovske Agrarian Company LLC. The company arranged for Svatove-Ahro LLC to store the crop at a local warehouse. By the start of the full-scale invasion on 24 February 2022, the warehouse had forwarded 2,592 tonnes to Oliiar. That left 2,107 tonnes still sitting in storage when Russian armed groups seized the premises.

The court accepted the company's evidence that the remaining seeds were lost due to the occupation. It determined that the Russian state, represented by the Ministry of Justice, must cover the cost. The final amount of UAH 65.36 million was calculated using an expert valuation of the missing inventory. Iryna Zalizna is listed as the founder of Oliiar, while Iryna Podoba serves as its director.

This decision aligns with a recent precedent set by the same court. Earlier, the judges ordered Russia to pay UAH 51.67 million, or about US$1.25 million, to Trading House Agrokhim LLC. That payout covers property lost in Svatove and in Kakhovka, Kherson Oblast. The rulings represent a growing list of commercial claims where Ukrainian courts are assigning direct financial liability to the Russian state for assets seized during the war.