A ship belonging to the shadow fleet in the Odesa region has been put up for sale for 20 million

Universal Ltd., a limited liability company, has put the dry cargo ship USKO MFU up for sale. The company acquired the vessel at auction while it was under seizure, with a starting price of 20 million hryvnias.

The company announced this on the Prozorro.Sales platform. 

The auction is scheduled to take place on June 30. The seller notes that the vessel requires repairs. Given that the vessel has been out of service for an extended period, its technical condition has deteriorated, and there is reason to believe that the mechanisms have frozen due to sub-zero temperatures.

In December 2025, the National Agency of Ukraine for the Identification, Tracing, and Management of Assets Derived from Corruption and Other Crimes (ARMA) sold the USKO MFU vessel through the Prozorro.Sales system. The new owner contributed 6.9 million hryvnias to Ukraine’s state budget.

This foreign vessel was detained in July 2024 in the waters of the port of Reni in the Odesa region and, at the request of prosecutors, transferred to ARMA’s custody to facilitate its subsequent sale.

According to the investigation, the USKO MFU, sailing under the Cameroonian flag, illegally entered the closed port of Sevastopol and exported agricultural products through the occupied peninsula.

Intentreported that an auction for the sale of the USKO MFU was scheduled for November 25 with a starting price of 2 million 958.9 thousand hryvnias. A previous auction, scheduled for November 4, did not take place due to a lack of bidders. At that time, the starting price was 4 million 958.9 thousand hryvnias. 

TheUSKO MFUdry cargo ship, flying the Cameroonian flag, was confiscated in October 2024. The vesselwasdetainedin the waters of the Port of Reni in July 2024 in the Odesa region, when units of the Maritime Guard detected a violation of navigation regulations in waters under temporary occupation. The ship’s captain was charged with violating entry procedures into the occupied territories with the intent to harm state interests. 

 It should be noted that this is already the second vessel that the new owner has attempted to resell in the Odesa region. For instance, Alfa Group 77, which purchased the Nika Spirit —a vessel seized in the port of Izmail in the Odesa region—was unable to sell it for 9 million hryvnias. The auction failed due to a lack of bidders, even though the starting price had been reduced by 3 million.Thepreviousauction, where the starting price was 12 million hryvnias, also failed due to a lack of participants. 

Кирило Бойко