U.S. officials have assured Ukrainian counterparts that if courts rule to confiscate assets belonging to ex Ukrainian Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko, most of them will be returned to Kyiv, head of Ukraine's Prosecutor General's Office Yuriy Lutsenko has said.

"We cooperate on the Lazarenko case [with the Americans]. We hope that this year, finally, we will complete the case and have assurances from the relative U.S. officials that [Lazarenko's] assets will be returned," Lutsenko said in Kyiv on Monday morning.

As earlier reported, Deputy PGO head Yevhen Yenin in December 2016 said Ukraine can count on receiving $280 million illegally transferred abroad by Lazarenko.

"The amount is $280 million. The money is located in several jurisdictions. We are now nearing the finish line, waiting for a court decision in the U.S. on the matter. Next in a civil case we will begin talks with those five jurisdictions regarding the return of Lazarenko's assets," Yenin told journalists.

Yenin said Antingua, Barbuda Guernsey, Lichtenshtein, Lithuania and Switzerland are the five jurisdictions, adding that Ukraine can count on the return of the full amounts and will negotiate about these assets.