The owner of the Kharkiv sports club "Safari," Oleksandr Popov, won a first-instance court case against the Russian Federation.
Before the war, the "Safari" fitness club was one of the largest in Kharkiv, occupying an area of 7,000 square meters. In July and autumn of 2022, seven S-300 missiles were launched at the club, causing significant destruction. The Kyiv District Court of Kharkiv ruled that the Russian Federation must compensate the club's owner nearly 32 million hryvnias for material and moral damages.
Roman Chumak, a lawyer and managing partner of the law firm "Legal Company Ares," noted that this is not the first instance where a Ukrainian citizen has successfully sought compensation for damages from the aggressor state through the courts. However, the issue of enforcing such rulings remains. Chumak stated that international partners are skeptical about the feasibility of executing Ukrainian court decisions to recover funds from Russia by seizing Russian assets abroad.
The lawyer also mentioned that another way to defend one’s rights is to apply to international commercial arbitration, as some Crimean entrepreneurs did back in 2014. However, he cautioned that none of those rulings have been enforced either.
Chumak further noted that compensation could potentially be obtained through the International Register of Damages as part of a general queue. While the court ruling may not expedite the receipt of compensation, it will help establish the exact amount of damages incurred.