Group DF, which brings together the assets of Ukrainian businessman Dmytro Firtash, considers the decision by the National Security and Defense Council and the president of Ukraine to extend sanctions against the group's shareholder for 10 years to be unfounded and will challenge them in courts, including international courts.

"The new decision of the NSDC has not introduced any new sanctions, but merely extended existing ones. The sanctions imposed three years ago, and extended now, were introduced unfairly, without any due process or legal basis and without any evidence," Ukrainian media quoted Group DF as saying in a statement, posted on its website.

The company said it had been challenging the sanctions in a Ukrainian court for three years. The administrative case is currently under consideration by Ukraine's Supreme Court. The court sessions were subjected to numerous delays and are now taking place behind closed doors.

In the court hearings to date, no facts or evidence of any violation of the law by the group's shareholder or by the businesses that might serve as grounds for sanctions have been presented.

"We will therefore also be taking legal action in the appropriate international courts. We intend to restore justice and prove the illegality and absurdity of imposing sanctions against the shareholder," Group DF said.

The group considers it unacceptable for the authorities to try to coerce large Ukrainian businesses with sanctions. This "only serves to cause direct harm to business, the economy and to Ukrainians," it said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has enacted a decision of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine dated June 24, 2024, regarding the extension of sanctions against 390 individuals and 366 legal entities for another 10 years. Sanctions have been extended against Ukrainian businessmen Dmytro Firtash and Pavlo Fuks, among others.

The previous presidential order imposing three-year sanctions on the vast majority of these individuals and entities was adopted on June 18, 2021 and expired on June 24 of this year.

According to the decision of the National Security and Defense Council, the sanctions provide for the extension of the blocking of assets, restriction of trade operations, partial or complete cessation of the transit of resources, flights and transportation across the territory of Ukraine, cancellation of licenses for carrying out certain types of activities, a ban on participation in privatization, and other measures.

Group DF consolidates assets in the gas distribution, chemical, titanium and port industries, and in the sphere of agriculture and media. The founder and owner of the group is Ukrainian businessman Dmytro Firtash.