The Security Service of Ukraine’s Directorate in the Zaporizhzhia region qualified the appropriation of the Zaporizhzhia Iron Ore Plant in Dniprorudne by the occupiers as a war crime.

Who are the suspects

• Yevhen Vitaliyovych Balytskyi (born December 10, 1969) is a native of Melitopol. Before the full-scale invasion, he was a member of the Zaporizhzhia Regional Council, and after the occupation of southern Zaporizhzhia region by russia, he became a collaborator. In return for his treason, he was appointed by the russians as the “head of the military-civil administration of Zaporizhzhia region” in the illegal occupation administration. He has already received three convictions for his crimes: on June 29, 2023, the Komunarskyi District Court of Zaporizhzhia sentenced him to 15 years’ imprisonment for organizing an illegal pseudo-referendum on the “accession” of Zaporizhzhia region to the russian federation; on October 10, 2024, he was sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment for voluntarily assuming the position of head of the occupation administration of Zaporizhzhia region; and on November 18, 2025, he was sentenced to life imprisonment for collaboration and organizing the theft of Ukrainian grain from temporarily occupied territory. Two more criminal cases against Balytskyi are currently under trial.
• Oleksandr Mykolayovych Nenych (born September 13, 1990) is a native of the village of Novomykhailivka, Pokrovsk district, Donetsk region. He is the founder and director of Industrial Innovations LLC.
• Hlib Serhiyovych Terskykh (born March 23, 1982) is a native of Novokubansk, Krasnodar Krai, russia.
• Viktor Vasylovych Zubrytskyi (born October 11, 1971) is a native of Mykolaiv. He serves as deputy head of the armed formation “Paramilitary Security Service”.

Circumstances of the crime

A group of collaborators and russian nationals who were notified of suspicion forcibly, and with the use of fraudulent documents, seized a large industrial enterprise from its lawful owners — the Zaporizhzhia Iron Ore Plant (ZZRK).

The crime began in the spring of 2022 after russian occupying forces captured part of Zaporizhzhia region, including the settlements near the plant (Dniprorudne and Mala Bilozerka).

The plant was first seized physically. In April 2022, Terskykh, together with armed individuals under Zubrytskyi’s command, forced ZZRK’s senior management to leave the plant’s premises and established their own checkpoint regime.

To give the seizure of the property an appearance of legitimacy, Balytskyi, acting as head of the occupation administration, issued an illegal order transferring the property complex and production facilities of ZZRK to the management of Industrial Innovations LLC, a legal entity based in temporarily occupied Donetsk, whose director was Nenych.

Balytskyi also approved the procedure for the “temporary administration”, which provided neither time limits nor legal grounds for returning the property, effectively making the transfer irreversible.

On June 15, Terskykh informed ZZRK employees that he was the new “director” of the enterprise, and on June 21, a duplicate legal entity — Dniprorudnensky Iron Ore Plant LLC (“DZRK”) — was registered in the russian city of Krasnodar.

Nenych appointed Terskykh as director of the new company, and he assumed direct control over the seized assets of the Ukrainian enterprise. Zubrytskyi became an adviser to the general director for strategic development.

ZZRK develops the Pivdenno-Bilozerske and Pereverzivske iron ore deposits and produces sinter ore and open-hearth iron ore. Before the occupation, the enterprise supplied its products to metallurgical companies in Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Austria and Poland, as well as to the Zaporizhstal steel plant in Ukraine.

The main shareholders of PrJSC are Slovakia’s Minerfin, a.s. (51.1697%), Zaporizhstal (29.5193%), and the Czech company KSK Consulting, a.s. (19.0632%).

Suspicion

Balytskyi, Nenych, Terskykh and Zubrytskyi are suspected of violating the laws and customs of war (Part one of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

Their actions were qualified as a war crime because they violate the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War and the Hague Regulations respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land, which guarantee respect for private property and prohibit its confiscation.

The seizure of the facilities of PrJSC ZZRK was not justified by any military necessity and was carried out solely for private commercial use and personal enrichment, which, under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, unequivocally constitutes a war crime.

The criminal proceedings were entered into the Unified Register of Pre-Trial Investigations under No. 12022082040000429 on March 26, 2022.