Barges blocked in Ochakiv: Ukrainian banks block Ascet Shipping accounts

FUIB Bank has sued the owner of Ascet Shipping, and OTP Leasing is demanding payments and blocking the company’s accounts.

This was reported by the owner of Ascet Shipping, Kateryna Rusyna, on Facebook.

According to her, before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Ascet Shipping was the largest operator in the port of Berdyansk and planned to take the port under concession.

“To develop river logistics, the company purchased four barges: two on lease through OTP Leasing, and two more with a loan from FUIB Bank. However, since the beginning of the war, all these barges have been blocked in the port of Ochakiv, and I cannot operate them and receive income,” says Kateryna.

The company suggested that the banks take these barges, sell them, and repay the loan at their cost.

“However, the banks are not interested in this, because, like me, they do not have access to these barges. Therefore, they chose another path – to take away my property located in the controlled territory, to which there is access, and thus deprive me of everything,” the company owner emphasizes.

Thus, FUIB Bank has filed a lawsuit against Kateryna Rusyna, and OTP Leasing is demanding payments and blocking the company’s accounts.

“They are not just demanding repayment of the debt – they are imposing arrests on my personal property, the accounts of the guarantors, and continue to charge interest, which I have been paying for almost three years,” the entrepreneur notes.

She also recalled that after the occupation, the Berdyansk company lost all its assets. Despite this, the Ascet Shipping team moved to Lviv, continued to work, pay taxes, and interest to banks.

“But now there is an economic crisis in the country, there is no work, and I physically cannot repay these loans. However, the banks are not interested in this. The banks are shifting responsibility for the situation in Ukraine onto me. But I am not to blame for losing my business. I am not to blame for the fact that the territory on which I built it was occupied. I am not to blame for the fact that the barges for which I took out loans and leased are blocked in the port of Ochakiv – on the territory of Ukraine, but I am not able to use them and make a profit from them. However, it is I who the banks are blaming. All obligations fall on both my company and me personally. In the country where I continued to work, I am actually deprived of any rights. They take away everything: property, the company, and the opportunity to recover. I remain responsible for circumstances over which I have no influence,” emphasizes the owner of Ascet Shipping.

She also added that Ukrainian business should receive fair treatment, and not be destroyed by its own banks during the war.