Collaborator Sentenced to Life For Mass Grain Theft
Former politician also fined millions of dollars for confiscation and export of almost half a million tonnes of wheat.
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Collaborator Sentenced to Life For Mass Grain Theft
Former politician also fined millions of dollars for confiscation and export of almost half a million tonnes of wheat.
The Ukrainian head of the Russian occupation administration in the Zaporizhzhia region has been sentenced to life in prison in absentia for organising the mass theft of grain and its illegal export for Russia’s benefit.
Yevhen Balytskyi is a former member of parliament from the Party of Regions. In 2020, he became a deputy of the Zaporizhzhia regional council for the now-banned Opposition Bloc. In late May 2022, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) charged him with collaboration after he agreed to lead a de facto Zaporizhzhia military-civilian administration, and in 2023 he was sentenced in absentia to 15 years in prison for organising sham referendums.
In July 2022, Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) reported that Russian occupation forces were attempting to export Ukrainian grain. To facilitate this, they established a so-called State Unitary Company, directly controlled by Balytskyi.
According to case file documents, the Russian leadership had approved a plan for the mass seizure of Ukrainian agricultural and industrial enterprises in the occupied territories no later than March 30, 2022. They planned to impose external administration on companies, seize their assets and ship their products first to Crimea and then to Russia.
In the Zaporizhzhia region, this plan was executed under Balytskyi's coordination. Other occupation leaders from Melitopol, Berdiansk, Enerhodar and the Kamianka-Dniprovska district also attended coordination meetings.
Representatives of the occupation authorities seized private property from agricultural producers, primarily their stocks of Ukrainian grain, using threats of armed violence, imprisonment and physical assault. According to investigators, Balytskyi coordinated the illegal export of this produce to the Russian Federation.
On April 6, 2022, Balytskyi, accompanied by armed men, stormed the premises of two enterprises in the village of Obilne: the Melitopol Auto and Tractor Parts Plant LLC and Milya CPC LLC.
Workers were threatened at gunpoint and informed that the assets would undergo an inventory before being transferred to the occupation authorities.
Between April 15 and 17, the plants were effectively taken over and finished products, agricultural machinery and vehicles removed.
Investigators estimate the total damages at over 616 million UAH (15.6m US dollars) for the Melitopol Auto and Tractor Parts Plant and more than 32 million UAH (760,000 dollars) for Milya CPC.
On Balytskyi’s orders, occupying forces also seized control of enterprises belonging to the Nibulon group and Blahovishchenskyi-Zernoprodukt in the Kamianka-Dniprovska district. Loyalists were then installed in key posts.
On April 28, 2022, armed Russian troops and members of the occupation administration raided the Nibulon company’s silo in Kamianka-Dniprovska. That same day, 120 tonnes of grain were hauled away in lorries with Russian license plates.
The looting continued in May at the Blahovishchenskyi-Zernoprodukt facility, where workers were subjected to forced labour under threat of violence. The grain was transported in trucks marked with the Z logo, a symbol of the full-scale invasion.
According to investigators, the losses for Blahovishchenskyi-Zernoprodukt alone exceed 728m UAH (17m dollars). Grain was similarly confiscated from other local businesses.
According to the SBU, Balytskyi orchestrated the theft of nearly 500,000 tonnes of Ukrainian grain in 2022 alone. The primary export routes ran through the ports of Mariupol, Rostov-on-Don and Crimea, from where the grain was shipped to countries in the Middle East.
Official notices regarding the investigation were published on the website of the prosecutor general’s office and in the Uriadovyi Kurier newspaper, both of which are inaccessible in the occupied parts of Ukraine. Copies of the legal documents were served to Balytskyi’s state-appointed lawyer.
Court summons were published in the newspapers Uriadovyi Kurier and Holos Ukrainy as well as on the website of the Komunarskyi district court of Zaporizhzhia.
During the hearing, the defence attorney – who argued for an acquittal due to insufficient evidence - stated that he had been unable to contact his client and was unaware of his position on the charges.
The court concluded that Balytskyi had deliberately failed to appear. His evasion of justice was interpreted as the accused exercising his fundamental right to avoid self-incrimination, a key guarantee of the presumption of innocence.
Witness Testimony
The court heard evidence that Balytskyi was personally present and coordinated with Russian military forces during the seizure of local businesses.
One company, Charyvne LLC in the city of Berdiansk, had stored nearly 2,000 tonnes of wheat, valued at over 16.6m hryvnias (400,000 dollars). According to a company representative, the grain was shipped to Russia on the orders of Balytskyi and the city’s Russian-installed leadership. Owners reportedly learned of the theft first from online publications and later received a copy of the official order signed by the accused.
The co-founder of Agri Expeditor LLC, who lost his corporate rights, has filed a civil claim for nearly 13.7m UAH (324,000 dollars). He told the court he learned of his company’s seizure through open-source information and materials from the official investigation.
The Melitopol Plant of Motor Transport Spare Parts, in the village of Obilne, was completely taken over by Russian occupation authorities. A representative testified that the factory was a major producer of tractor and military-grade spare parts and that Balytskyi, recognised by security guards and accompanied by other unidentified individuals, visited the plant on several occasions. The occupiers warned of an impending “nationalisation” and later installed their own director.
The director of the Milya LLC company explained that his firm had been leasing premises on the factory’s grounds. After the plant was seized, Balytskyi and his Russian associates destroyed surveillance cameras and posted their own guards. The director of Milya LLC and his representative only learned of their company’s takeover after seeing a video of it online.
Telegram Chats and Photos
The SBU gained access to the electronic correspondence of individuals connected to the so-called State Grain Operator, an entity established by the occupation authorities. From these accounts, law enforcement officials seized spreadsheets and documents detailing the receipt and shipment of grain, including crop types, volumes, railcar numbers and routes. This data covers the period from June to November 2022.
Investigators also examined a Telegram channel where Russians had published a photograph of Balytskyi alongside statistics on grain shipments from ports in occupied Crimea. Experts later confirmed his identity in the photograph.
The court also stressed that, based on judicial precedent, the individuals responsible were not acting solely on their own initiative but within the framework of the so-called “special military operation”. Therefore, the court concluded it was logical to name not only Balytskyi but also the government of the Russian Federation as a civil defendant in the case.
The court notified the Russian Federation of the lawsuits filed by the Ukrainian companies. The companies sent some of the documents via diplomatic missions in the Czech Republic. Russia returned one of these notices through the Embassy of Ukraine in Belarus, which the court interpreted as confirmation that the Russian government was aware of the case.
According to the verdict was delivered by the Komunarskyi district court of Zaporizhzhia, Balytskyi was not only sentenced to life in prison but also banned from holding public office for 15 years and has had all of his property confiscated. Additionally, the court granted civil claims totaling 4.88 billion UAH (11.5m dollars). Of this amount, Balytskyi and the Russian Federation government are jointly ordered to pay 1.86 billion UAH (44m dollars), while Balytskyi is solely liable for the remaining 3.02 billion UAH (71.5m dollars). The verdict is not yet final.
