Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
LLC Titan-Apatite Group and LLC CFR Group succeeded in court in having orders of the State Service of Geology and Subsoil of Ukraine annulled following inspections carried out in March 2026 as part of Prime Minister Yuliya Svyrydenko’s directive to audit strategic and “dormant” subsoil.
NADRA.INFO reports, citing recently published decisions of the Kyiv District Administrative Court dated 02 November.
LLC Titan-Apatite Group
The company holds the Yurivska site (titanium ores, primary apatite-ilmenite, special permit No. 4998) in Zhytomyr region. The special permit was acquired in an online auction of the State Geo-Subsoil Service in 2019. The distance from the site to the border with the Republic of Belarus is about 9,6 km.
Among the violations recorded by the auditors were failure to meet deadlines for a number of items in the work program and failure to provide documents and various materials related to the inspection.
Before filing a lawsuit, LLC Titan-Apatite Group submitted objections to the inspection report to the State Geo-Subsoil Service and appealed the order.
The company rejected all allegations and insisted that the work deadlines had not expired, appealing to the relevant provision of the Subsoil Code of Ukraine regarding automatic extension of deadlines. They also argued that work at the deposit was limited by objective circumstances: Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, threats to personnel, the site’s proximity to the Belarusian border, prohibitions of the Zhytomyr Regional Defense Council, and notifications from the Zhytomyr Regional Military Administration. The force majeure was confirmed by a Chamber of Commerce and Industry Certificate. Moreover, case materials show the company was not idle: it carried out work available during wartime in stages, revised the project, and conducted drilling and investigations. Failure to complete the full set of works did not mean abandonment of the Program. The court document also mentions that documentation and materials were submitted to the State Geo-Subsoil Service to the extent they could be prepared.
At the same time, in the list of deadlines in the decision, the completion date of none of the disputed stages of the Work Program fell before 24 February 2022, therefore the court rejected the Service’s arguments, took into account the automatic extension of deadlines and other circumstances, and found the order unlawful and annulled it, as well as the corresponding item in the appendix to the State Geo-Subsoil Service’s order extending the deadline for remedying violations.
In the language of the court document: “…the violations listed in the Act were recorded by the respondent (the State Geo-Subsoil Service – Ed.) unreasonably and unlawfully, since the deadlines for performing the work under the Work Program fall within the period of martial law declared in the country and during the period of martial law, which the legislator automatically extended” (we recommend reading the full text of the decision, which has not yet come into legal force and may be appealed).
LLC CFR Group
The company holds the Yastrebetzka site of zircon-rare-earth-fluorite ores (special permit No. 4999, also purchased at State Geo-Subsoil Service auctions in 2019) in Zhytomyr region, at a distance of 11,4 km from the border with the Republic of Belarus.
The violations recorded by the inspection are similar. And, as in the case of LLC Titan-Apatite Group, among the disputed stages of the Work Program (mentioned in the court decision) we did not notice any whose statutory deadline expired before 24 February 2022.
LLC CFR Group’s argumentation is similar: the deadlines for the disputed stages were automatically extended, security restrictions and force majeure made use of the site impossible, part of the works was performed, and provision of documentation depended on the sequence of investigations and completion of stages; explanations and documents were submitted to the State Geo-Subsoil Service.
Thus, LLC CFR Group carried out work on its site: topographic work and hydrogeological studies were conducted, sample preparation and geochemical and mineralogical studies were performed at the SGS Canada laboratory, and the company was working on compiling a preliminary geological-economic assessment report (GEO-2), which is necessary to begin design and carry out DPR.
“That is, the plaintiff, using the provision of part 6 of article 15 of the Subsoil Code of Ukraine on automatic extension of deadlines for performance of works, is taking measures to implement the Work Program and report to the respondent on their execution,” the decision states, by which the court annulled the order and the corresponding item in the State Geo-Subsoil Service’s order on the deadline for remedying violations (we recommend reading the full text of the decision, which likewise has not come into legal force and may be appealed).
Context
The beneficiary owner of LLC Titan-Apatite Group (YouControl) and LLC CFR Group (YouControl) is Hennadiy Butkevych (founder of BGV Group Management, co-owner of ATB); minority participants are Hero of Ukraine Oleksandr Nastenko and Vitaliy Yakymenko (father of Pavlo Yakymenko – chair of the Subcommittee on Protection and Rational Use of Subsoil of the Committee on Environmental Policy and Nature Management of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine). Both companies are registered in Kyiv and are headed by Serhiy Troyan.
As of 2025, Mr. Butkevych’s and his partners’ companies controlled a total of 13 subsoil sites in Ukraine and initiated tenders to conclude production-sharing agreements at four uranium ore deposits.
The group’s flagship project at the Balakhivske graphite deposit (LLC Rozvytok Pobuzhzhia) was included in the list of EU strategic initiatives.
The order of the State Geo-Subsoil Service resulting from the spring inspections was also appealed by LLC Perzhanska Ore Company of Butkevych (court ruling).
In October 2026 it became known that the American-Ukrainian Reconstruction Investment Fund (URIF) approved the largest to date investment package in projects that align with the shared economic and strategic interests of Ukraine and the United States. In particular, it is planned to create a joint URIF and BGV Group Management investment platform to develop a portfolio of projects in the field of critical minerals in Ukraine. At the initial stage, the platform envisions the possibility of investing up to 30 million dollars in programs to develop individual projects. The initial focus will be on assets related to rare earth elements, beryllium, and zirconium.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Компанії Буткевича домоглися скасування приписів Держгеонадр після аудиту стратегічних надр". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: HAB Media.