Ukraine's Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko has said trading with enterprises in Russia-occupied areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions (ORDLO) is possible only if they are registered and pay taxes in Ukraine, as was the situation before 2017. Otherwise, Lutsenko said, the activity is illegal under the article of Ukraine's Criminal Code on financing terrorism.

"After Russia-occupation forces 'nationalized' Ukrainian state and private property in the occupied areas, the proposal for removing the economic blockade would mean legalizing tax payments to Russia-occupation forces and transferring social and communal expenses of the pseudo-republics to Ukraine's [state] budget. Such trading would be a criminal act under Article 258-5 of Ukraine's Criminal Code (financing terrorism)," Lutsenko said on Facebook.

As reported, Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office in Ukraine and in the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) Martin Sajdik told journalists about the proposal of ex-President Leonid Kuchma to remove the blockade of Russia-occupied areas of Donbas. He said the issue "will be discussed at the TCG's economic subgroup during its next meeting."