Ukrainian court orders Russia to pay company US$590,000 in lost profits over wind farm projects
The Commercial Court of Kyiv has ordered the Russian Federation to pay UAH 26.24 million (US$590,000) in lost profits to Katwind Energy LLC, an Odesa-based company.
Source: the court ruling dated 15 April
Details: Katwind Energy filed a lawsuit against Russia for a total of UAH 86.69 million (almost US$2 million).
The company said that in 2021-2022 it provided Nordex Energy Ukraine LLC with construction site management services in two oblasts of Ukraine.
The case concerned the Syvash wind farm project in Kherson Oblast, involving more than 60 optional Nordex wind turbines, and the Yuzhne wind farm project in Odesa Oblast, which involves 17 Nordex wind turbines about 125 metres high.
Representatives of Katwind Energy said that after the start of Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine, the company lost the ability to provide site management services at the Yuzhne and Syvash wind farm construction sites, resulting in UAH 85.17 million (US$1.9 million) in lost profits.
Katwind Energy also said that in 2020-2021 it had purchased three Renault Duster vehicles worth a total of UAH 1.51 million (US$34,300) to use at the Syvash wind farm construction site.
However, the vehicles remained in the Russian-occupied territory, so the company considers them lost.
The court ordered a forensic economic examination in the case to establish the actual circumstances regarding the amount of Katwind Energy's lost profits, as the case file did not include an expert opinion.
Experts from the Kyiv Scientific Research Institute of Forensic Expertise of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine concluded that the amount of lost profits from March 2022 to December 2023 was UAH 26.24 million (US$590,000), and not UAH 85.17 million (US$1.9 million).
Regarding the Renault Duster vehicles, the court noted that the company had not provided proper evidence confirming their loss, nor had it submitted documents showing that the vehicles had remained in the Russian-occupied territory or had been there at all.
The court therefore concluded that including the value of the vehicles, amounting to UAH 1.51 million (US$34,300), in the company's losses was premature in the absence of evidence that they had been destroyed or damaged.
The founder of Katwind Energy LLC is Türkiye's Katwind Enerji Sanayi ve Ticaret Limited Şirketi. Its director and beneficiary is Koray Altınkılıç.
Background: The Northern Commercial Court of Appeal in Kyiv has ordered the Russian Federation to pay US$19.5 million (UAH 713.61 million) in compensation to Azovmash, a machine-building plant in Mariupol, for loss and damage, overturning a first-instance ruling that had dismissed the company's claim against Russia.
Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!