The Ukrainian Finance Ministry is hailing the freeze on the assets of the former owners of PrivatBank, Ihor Kolomoisky and Henadiy Boholiubov, as well as six companies they either own or control, imposed by a London court.

"We are hailing the affirmative decision of the British court. The government has spent almost UAH 140 billion increasing PrivatBank's capitalization because money was earlier siphoned off this bank and uncollateralized loans were not being returned," a statement posted on the bank's website with reference to Ukrainian Finance Minister Oleksandr Danyliuk said.

"These UAH 140 billion are the money of every citizen, every taxpayer, and it should absolutely be returned to the state budget. Attempts have been made to disrupt the proceeding and defense of the bank's interests, yet the team of lawyers working on this case has done its professional job and delivered the result," Danyliuk said.

The television news service said Kolomoisky had described the freeze as a conservative attachment.

"This is a conservative attachment for the period of the court proceedings," Kolomoisky said in his statement on the British court's order.

As reported earlier, the London High Court in the UK imposed a temporary freeze on the assets of former PrivatBank owners Kolomoisky and Boholiubov totaling over $2.5 billion.