Since the beginning of 2023, the detectives of the  Economic Security Bureau of Ukraine have seized 35,800 tons of petrol, gas, and diesel fuel from the shadow market. The total value of confiscated petroleum products and material goods is approximately UAH 1.6 billion. For comparison, 331 tons of fuel were seized in the whole of 2022.

The ESBU employees have initiated 17 criminal investigations related to illegal fuel trafficking. As a result of pre-trial investigations, 12 individuals have already been served with notices of suspicion in criminal proceedings.

The largest amount of fuel was confiscated at oil depots in the Odessa and Cherkasy regions. In total, it is more than 16,000 tons of petrol and diesel fuel. The estimated value of the seized oil products is almost UAH 800 million.

In this case, the ESBU investigators have already ensured more than UAH 1.2 billion in taxes to the budget from PJSC "Ukrtatnafta", which were not paid by the company's former management.

The ESBU detectives also confiscated nearly 6,000 tons of fuel in the Kyiv region, which was being sold at a controlled oil depot for cash. The value of the confiscated fuel is UAH 360 million.

Additionally, the ESBU employees uncovered one of the petrol station operators who sold  fuel of questionable origin without paying excise tax. This activity led to tax evasion of around UAH 30 million. Almost 6,000 tons of fuel worth over UAH 260 million were confiscated.

In one of the criminal investigations, the ESBU detectives served a notice of suspicion to the head of a Kyiv-based company of tax evasion on a particularly large scale. The company officials violated the conditions of transit for petroleum products and material goods through a main oil pipeline from Russian territory to Hungary.

The company, which provides financial guarantees as required by law, did not pay customs duties in the event of a guaranteed situation. Such actions caused the state budget losses of over UAH 244 million. The mentioned company, a financial guarantor, is ucontrol of a fugitive member of parliament. During searches at the Energy Customs of the State Customs Service of Ukraine, copies of transit customs declarations and an illegal permit to change the customs regime were seized.

The ESBU has shut down underground production facilities and illegal petrol stations in Lviv, Chernihiv, Odessa, Zhytomyr, Cherkasy, Chernivtsi regions, as well as in Kyiv and the region.

Since the beginning of the year, the ESBU has seized counterfeit alcohol worth UAH 650 million.