Crimean zoo owner and collaborator Zubkov to stand trial for removing animals from Askania-Nova reserve

Oleh Zubkov, owner of Crimean zoos and a collaborator with the Russian occupation authorities, is to stand trial for removing animals from the Askania-Nova Nature Reserve in Kherson Oblast.

Law enforcement officers have submitted an indictment against Zubkov to court.

Source: Office of the Prosecutor General

Details: The Crimean biosphere reserve is one of Ukraine's best-known nature conservation and scientific institutions and is part of UNESCO's World Network of Biosphere Reserves.

However, after Russian forces occupied part of Kherson Oblast in 2022, they also seized Askania-Nova.

Investigators established that the occupation authorities subsequently set up an illegal entity at the reserve and appointed Dmytro Meshcheriakov as its director.

No later than October 2023, the newly appointed director reached an agreement with Oleh Zubkov, founder of the Skazka Zoo in Yalta and the Taigan Lion Park in occupied Crimea, to transfer animals from the reserve.

Rare animals protected under international humanitarian law were taken from the reserve to occupied Crimea in 2023-2024. They included Chapman's zebras and Ukrainian Grey cattle.

Ukraine suffered losses of more than UAH 67 million (about US$1.5 million) as a result of the removal of the animals.

Prosecutors have submitted an indictment against the Crimean zoo owner on charges of violating the laws and customs of war in prior conspiracy with a group of individuals, under Article 28.2 and Article 438.1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

Zubkov faces eight to 12 years in prison if convicted. He is currently wanted by the Ukrainian authorities.

Background:

• Offers to buy Chapman's zebras previously appeared on Russian online marketplaces, with sellers promising to capture the animals at Ukraine's Askania-Nova reserve in the temporarily occupied part of Kherson Oblast.
• In April 2026, Meshcheriakov was sentenced in absentia to 15 years in prison for removing Chapman's zebras, American bison, Père David's deer and endangered Przewalski's horses from the reserve.

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