This is the first case in which a foreign court has approved the seizure of a vessel following a request for international legal assistance from a Ukrainian prosecutor.

A Swedish court has ordered the seizure of the vessel CAFFA, which is accused of systematically violating the procedures for entering and exiting temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine with the intent to harm the country’s interests. To conceal these activities, the vessel was falsely registered as the Guinea False in international databases.

The Office of the Prosecutor General announced this in a statement, as reported by the CFTS portal.

“This is the first case in which a foreign court has approved the seizure of a vessel that may have been involved in the illegal export of Ukrainian goods from a temporarily occupied territory, following a request for international legal assistance from the Ukrainian prosecutor’s office,” the statement said.

On March 12, 2026, the Office of the Prosecutor General submitted a request for international legal assistance to the Swedish Ministry of Justice. The request included searching the vessel, questioning its captain and crew, and seizing it.

The Swedish authorities promptly began processing the request. Within a week of receiving the request, the Swedish authorities searched the vessel and interviewed witnesses.

“Today, this process took an important procedural step forward, with the court’s approval of the seizure of the vessel. This is a concrete result of international legal cooperation between Ukraine and our partners. Our daily work, information sharing, and the collection and submission of additional evidence have yielded results. The vessel has been seized,” said the Office of the Prosecutor General.

It added: “The aggressor country, Russia, continues to plunder Ukrainian resources in the temporarily occupied territories. However, Ukraine is systematically documenting these crimes, tracing routes, identifying vessels, and recording illegal port calls in occupied territories. Ukraine is also employing all available mechanisms of international legal assistance.”