March 28, 2026, 9:14 p.m.
(Nika Spirit PHOTO: Reuters)
Alfa Group 77, the company that acquired the Nika Spirit vessel arrested in the port of Izmail, Odesa region, has decided to resell the vessel at auction, but now the starting price is UAH 9 million.
The company posted the relevant announcement on Prozorro.Sale.
The previous auction, with a starting price of UAH 12 million, failed due to the lack of participants. The new auction is scheduled for April 22. The company itself bought the tanker for UAH 6,425,000 from the National Asset Recovery and Management Agency (ARMA) on May 9, 2025.
On June 10 of the same year, the seizure of the acquired asset was lifted by a ruling of the Dniprovsky District Court of Kyiv. On July 30, a representative of the winning company also succeeded in having the seizure of the vessel's documents seized during the search lifted in court.
The Nika Spirit is an oil product tanker built in 1989. It belongs to the sea-river class and is designed to transport oil products of classes I and III in river conditions. Previously, the tanker was flying the Russian flag under the name Neyma and was owned by a company from the Krasnodar Territory. In July 2019, it was arrested after entering Izmail for repairs.
It was the same vessel that was used in November 2018 to block the Kerch Strait during the seizure of Ukrainian sailors and Ukrainian Navy ships by the Russian military. After the tanker was purchased at auction by Alfa Group 77, a company based in Kremenchuk, Poltava region, and owned by Vitaliy Marchenko, the asset was put up for sale again. But this time the amount is twice as high as last year. Probably, the company decided to sell Nika Spirit after a lengthy litigation to lift the arrest not only of the vessel but also of its documentation. Logistical issues related to the transportation of the asset probably also had an impact.
Кирило Бойко