One of Ukraine’s largest drone manufacturers has purchased the confiscated Kyiv apartment of Russian propagandist and designer Artemy Lebedev, announcing plans to transform it into a space dedicated to contemporary Ukrainian culture.
According to General Chereshnya and Ukraine’s State Property Fund, the company acquired the apartment during an online auction held on Tuesday.
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“General Chereshnya will turn it into a space for a new Ukrainian culture,” the company said, adding that further details will be announced later.
The 138.5-square-meter (1,490-square-foot) duplex apartment is located in Kyiv’s historic center near the Golden Gate. The State Property Fund said two bidders competed for the apartment before it was sold for Hr.13,500,001 (approximately $325,000), nearly Hr.3 million ($67,000) above the starting price.
The auction was won by Center for Unmanned Systems Research LLC – the company behind the General Chereshnya drone brand.
Funds raised from the sale will be transferred to Ukraine’s Fund for the Elimination of the Consequences of Armed Aggression, which finances recovery and reconstruction projects.
Confiscated property
Lebedev is a Russian designer and pro-Kremlin propagandist who has repeatedly supported Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
In 2022, he traveled to occupied Enerhodar in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region and filmed himself on top of one of the reactor buildings at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.
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Following this, his apartment was confiscated under Ukraine’s sanctions mechanism targeting individuals who support Russia’s aggression.
“This apartment is no longer a symbol of the impunity of a Russian propagandist,” the State Property Fund said. “It has become another example of how assets belonging to those who supported the war against Ukraine are being transformed into a resource for rebuilding the country.”
Sanctions redirected
The sale is part of Ukraine’s broader effort to confiscate and privatize assets belonging to sanctioned Russian individuals.
Officials say proceeds from such auctions are directed toward Ukraine’s recovery, while the assets themselves are returned to public use.
General Chereshnya said acquiring the apartment carried symbolic importance because Lebedev “has no place” in Kyiv’s historic center.
“For us, it was a matter of principle to reclaim this apartment for the benefit of society,” the company said. “We returned the apartment – and we will return Enerhodar.”
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