Russia has declared hundreds of hotels in occupied Ukraine ‘ownerless.’ Dozens have been taken over — but one Ukrainian hotelier is fighting back.

Russian authorities have declared more than 7,000 private and commercial properties in the occupied Zaporizhzhia region “ownerless,” including 521 hotels and resort complexes, Reuters found. At least 77 of those hotel properties have already changed hands, and 20 went to government entities.In the occupied territories, Ukrainian citizens can confirm their property rights only by obtaining Russian citizenship.Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov told Reuters that Russian authorities gave all residents of the region a chance to confirm their property rights, and that any property not re-registered became ownerless. Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry calls this scheme “a legal smokescreen” for state-organized theft.Denys Katyukha, a Ukrainian entrepreneur who owned the Admiral hotel on the Sea of Azov, told Reuters that Russian authorities gave him three days in 2022 to confirm his ownership rights. By then Katyukha was already in Germany, and occupation authorities refused to accept his father’s Ukrainian passport and the hotel’s documents, calling them “documents from a nonexistent country.”Nine days later, the Admiral passed under the management of the Russian state organization “Resorts of Zaporizhzhia Region.” The 100-room hotel, which has a restaurant, three bars, and a pool, continued accepting guests.A Ukrainian court ordered Russia to pay $5.1 million in damages to the Admiral’s owner. But Russia does not recognize the jurisdiction of Ukrainian courts, so Katyukha does not expect to receive compensation anytime soon.“For now, I am the victim – a Don Quixote fighting windmills,” he told Reuters.Katyukha also filed a claim with the Register of Damage for Ukraine in The Hague, which documents damage caused by Russia during the war. More than 195,000 people are already seeking compensation through the Register, which expects to receive between 6 million and 8 million claims, but a mechanism for paying out compensation has not yet been created.At Meduza, we are committed to transparency about our use of artificial intelligence in the newsroom. The story you’re reading was written by one of our living, breathing journalists and translated from Russian using an AI model configured to follow our strict editorial standards. This translation process is the result of extensive testing and refinements to ensure our English-language coverage is timely and accurate. A Meduza editor reviews every draft before publication.If you find any errors in this translation, please contact us at [email protected].To read Meduza’s exclusive content in English, please subscribe to our newsletter.