The State Property Fund (SPF) of Ukraine points out the impossibility of supplying titanium ore to the aggressor country by JSC United Mining and Chemical Company (UMCC), under whose management the Vilnohirsk Mining and Metallurgical Combine (Dnipropetrovsk Region) and the Irshansk Mining and Processing Plant (Zhytomyr region) were transferred, due to strict verification of contracts at different levels.

As Deputy Chairman of the Fund Oleksandr Fedorishyn said at a press conference entitled "SPF is responding to accusations of a possible supply of titanium raw materials by UMCC to the Russian Federation" at Interfax-Ukraine on Thursday, the Fund and UMCC are absolutely transparent and strive to give answers to all questions. At the same time, he urged journalists to contact them when writing materials.

At the same time, Fedorishyn suggested that the accusation that appeared in the media that UMCC is allegedly supplying products to the aggressor country was due to the intention to either influence the company's privatization process or the actions of its competitors or to look for a pro-Russian trace in the appearance of the article. He did not rule out that such materials may appear in the future.

In turn, he said that in order for UMCC to obtain permission to supply products, it is necessary to go through many bureaucratic procedures – legal, economic, technical, security, etc.

"Therefore, it is infantile to admit that the Fund and other state institutions turn a blind eye, do not look where the products go, who the recipient is, or how they are used. In fact, everything is quite complicated, bureaucratized," the deputy head of the State Property Fund said.

He added that the UMCC, together with the Security Service of Ukraine and the Prosecutor General's Office, created a working group to check the counterparties to whom the company sold products. In particular, the buyer of titanium raw materials is SIC LUCEAT LUX KFT (Hungary), with which UMCC has been fruitfully cooperating for a long time.

At the same time, Fedorishyn said that after the inclusion of ilmenite (titanium ore) in the list of goods for the export of which a special license is needed, there were checks of contracts and letters from security services.

"The State Export Control Service of Ukraine gives recommendations – this is a key body that filters to whom and where deliveries go. And the public structures carried out control, and when a contract is signed, UMCC submits a number of documents to, indicating the end consumer of the products, the State Export Control Service," the deputy head of the Fund said, emphasizing that the contracts contain a number of restrictions, in particular, the absence of supplies to the aggressor country is stipulated. Further, after obtaining the permit, the goods are transported accompanied by the recipient of the products, who confirms the delivery under the contract, and the State Export Control Service checks this information.

"And all the deliveries were in accordance with the contracts, which confirmed the deliveries to the end consumer. There was also an internal investigation of the SPF," the Deputy Head of the Fund said.

He also said that not all product groups are subject to control – only ilmenite products. And titanium ingots are the issue of the Zaporizhia Titanium and Magnesium Combine (ZTMC).

"The internal audit of ZTMC showed that the facts cited in the media [about the supply of products to the aggressor country] are not confirmed," Fedorishyn said.

In turn, Yehor Perelyhin, a member of the UMCC board, said that deliveries to the United States from UMCC were under a contract with another company, but did not name the recipient of titanium ore in the United States. "It is impossible to name it in accordance with the contract terms, but we have consumer confirmation that the entire volume has reached the U.S. market," he said.

"We have a good track of where the goods go," the member of the company's board said.

According to the SPF information for the press conference, given Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the issue of the possible supply of titanium raw materials to the aggressor country has become extremely important for Ukraine's national security. Any actions aimed at illegally exporting strategic resources to Russia are unacceptable.

"The SPF adheres to the position of openness and transparency – that is why it initiated an internal investigation, which should confirm or refute the media information that UMCC sells titanium raw materials to the Russian Federation during the war," the Fund said.

In addition, the State Property Fund has asked the Security Service of Ukraine to conduct its own investigation and is ready to cooperate with the public and law enforcement agencies to clarify all the circumstances of the information published in the media.

At the same time, the SPF urged all interested parties to adhere to objectivity and carefully check any information.

"We emphasize once again that the enemy continues an active information war. Get news only from official sources," the Fund said.