Ukraine recovers $44 million from Prominvestbank’s US accounts
Prominvestbank branch in Kyiv (Photo: Nick Shevchenko/Google Maps)

In August 2025, Ukraine recovered the equivalent of UAH 1.84 billion from the United States. The funds had been held in Prominvestbank’s correspondent accounts at the Bank of New York Mellon, the Deposit Guarantee Fund reported on Friday.

"The Fund proved in court that the money on Prominvestbank’s correspondent accounts belonged to the state of Ukraine. It secured the release of these assets from sanctions and returned about $44 million to the bank. Subsequently, in line with the decision of the National Security and Defense Council, the Fund transferred the recovered funds to Ukraine’s state budget," the statement said.

After Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, the National Bank of Ukraine revoked Prominvestbank’s license and placed the bank, which at the time was owned by Russia’s state development corporation VEB.RF, into liquidation.

During the liquidation procedure, the Deposit Guarantee Fund discovered significant assets in Prominvestbank’s U.S. account but was initially unable to repatriate them. The money was blocked due to U.S. sanctions against the bank as a VEB.RF subsidiary.

In November 2022, the funds were unexpectedly claimed in U.S. court by several American citizens who sought compensation for damages caused by Taliban attacks in Afghanistan in 2016. During the proceedings, U.S. courts confirmed links between the Taliban and the Russian Federation. Based on this, the plaintiffs sought damages from Russian assets abroad, including the blocked Prominvestbank funds at the Bank of New York Mellon.

However, by the time their case reached the District Court in New York, Prominvestbank was already owned by the Ukrainian state. The Deposit Guarantee Fund successfully proved that the plaintiffs had no grounds to seize these funds.

  • On February 25, 2022, the NBU also revoked the licenses of the Ukrainian subsidiaries of Sberbank and VEB and initiated their liquidation. According to the NBU, the withdrawal of Russian banks from the Ukrainian market eliminated UAH 46 billion in non-performing loans. On May 10, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a law on the forced seizure of assets belonging to the Russian Federation and its residents. The following day, the National Security and Defense Council decided to nationalize both banks.