Zelensky: I will lift sanctions if oligarchs return withdrawn billions

He told journalists during a working visit to the Khmelnytsky nuclear power plant, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

“We have a shortage of money today, here is help. They can return these billions, we will give them to the army, and I will lift the sanctions. No questions asked,” Zelensky said.

At the same time, he noted that this is not the first and not the last package of sanctions.

“We are at war, and people are withdrawing billions of hryvnias, and this has been going on throughout the war. Not only the full-scale war, it started in 2014-2015 – withdrawal of money, earnings with separatists on coal, all this is there. I’m just surprised that the Financial Monitoring did not show us this before,” the President said.

Now, according to him, the Security Service and Financial Monitoring show billions of withdrawn funds.

As Ukrinform reported, the day before, MP Petro Poroshenko said that the National Security and Defense Council had imposed sanctions against him.

On February 13, President Volodymyr Zelensky enacted the decision of the National Security and Defense Council to impose personal sanctions against Ihor Kolomoisky, Hennadiy Boholyubov, Kostiantyn Zhevaho, Petro Poroshenko and Viktor Medvedchuk.

The relevant Decree No. 81/2025 “On the Decision of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine of February 12, 2025 ‘On the Application of Personal Special Economic and Other Restrictive Measures (Sanctions)’ was published on the President’s website.

According to Serhiy Leshchenko, advisor to the head of the Presidential Office, sanctions were imposed on five Ukrainian oligarchs because of their systemic ties to Russia, illegal business deals, and to prevent the media political space from being pumped with narratives that benefit these oligarchs.

Photo: OP