The Bureau of Economic Security (BES) and the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), while investigating a criminal case, searched 14 gas distribution companies, the Shevchenkivsky District Court of Kyiv authorized the searches.

"On the morning of March 17, armed law enforcement officers entered the territory and premises of gas distribution companies. The searches were conducted on trumped-up charges of allegedly taking state-owned funds," RGC said on Friday.

According to the press service, at some enterprises, employees were taken out of their workplaces and kept in the corridor under the supervision of machine gunners. Their phones were confiscated and their personal belongings were searched.

RGC considers the conduct of searches, accompanied by egregious human rights violations, as pressure on employees of critical infrastructure enterprises. In the group's opinion, the criminal case, which became the reason for the searches, was initiated only with the aim of putting pressure on the enterprises that NJSC Naftogaz Ukrainy, represented by state-owned Chornomornaftogaz, is trying to illegally seize.

"Making such steps against enterprises that provide vital services to millions of Ukrainians during the war is a crime against the country. After all, we have become convinced of the importance of the stable functioning of critical infrastructure. And employees of gas distribution companies do not deserve such behavior, regardless of the nature of the investigative actions," RGC said.

The press service recalled that since the beginning of the full-scale war, the employees of the group's enterprises, at the cost of heroic efforts, were able to maintain the efficiency of gas distribution systems in the territories controlled by Ukraine. Together with colleagues from other regions, they restored gas distribution as quickly as possible in Kyiv, Sumy and Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Zaporizhia, Mykolaiv, Dnipropetrovsk regions, and the city of Kharkiv.