This was reported by RBC-Ukraine with reference to the deputy head of the Office of the President Rostislav Shurma.

According to him, the Office of the President of Ukraine is aware of the problem of sanctions blocking of Ukrainian mining companies and will look at how to revise the norm of legislation providing for the suspension of the right to use subsoil.

"Today, there is a legislative norm that provides for the revocation of licenses in case of sanctioning the owners of companies. We will see how to revise this norm. This is the competence of the Verkhovna Rada, but we know this problem, and we will definitely introduce it... to discuss, and, probably, to make appropriate legislative [changes]," he said.

As a reminder, in March-June 2023, the State Service of Geology and Subsoil of Ukraine suspended special permits to companies of Smart-Holding, Group DF, UNIGRAN to comply with the new provision of the Subsoil Code of Ukraine, which entered into force on 28.03.2023.

In particular, Smart-Holding stated that the forced shutdown of gas fields primarily harms the state itself and its economy, especially on the eve of the heating season. The budget has already lost UAH 540 million in taxes, by the end of the year this figure will reach UAH 1.3 billion.

As for the unproduced gas in the fields developed by the holding: now it is 67 million cubic meters, and at the end of 2023 it will reach 135 million cubic meters. In addition, the shutdown of such complex production worsens the condition of the gas-bearing layer itself, and in the future the productivity of the well as a whole may fall.

Also, the European Business Association called blocking the activities of Ukrainian mining companies due to sanctions against their owners "illogical and ineffective."