For the first time since the Russian “invasion” began back in February, the Ukrainian government has invoked wartime laws. The state has now intervened in the private business sector by stealing companies. The country has seized (stolen) five “strategically important” companies for official state and military use.

Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov announced Monday at a press briefing in Kyiv, “As of today, the specified assets are managed on behalf of the state and in the interests of the entire security sector — to meet the needs of the Armed Forces and the entire defense sector.”

“In connection with military necessity, a decision was made to expropriate the assets of strategically important enterprises into state ownership,” the Secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, Oleksiy Danilov, explained further in a joint presser.

Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves. –William Pitt

Ths takeover of businesses comes a year after President Zelensky’s so-called “de-oligarchization” reforms and targets companies run by some of Ukraine’s wealthiest billionaire businessmen – at least a couple of which are facing major corruption investigations, according to a report by ZeroHedge. 

Specific “urgent” military and national needs which were cited include maintaining fuel supply and adequate equipment repair lines, as well as accessing steady quantities of industrial lubricants. The companies were transferred directly under management of Ukraine’s defense ministry. “This is about providing fuel and lubricants, repairing military equipment and weapons,” Reznikov said.

In announcing the state seizures, Ukrainian officials had to quickly go on the defensive.  The rulers of Ukraine have consistently cast the current crisis as Kiev leading the way in defending not only Ukrainian democracy but also “European Democratic values”more broadly. “We are defending not only Ukraine but also European democratic values,” Kyiv Mayor Klitschko and Ukrainian Minister Chernyshov told an EU body of lawmakers last month.

Even Wikipedia makes mention of the seizure of private businesses and forced labor in Nazi Germany. But it’s unlikely the mainstream media will ever connect what’s being done by Ukraine with Nazi Germany. Instead, the focus will be on Russian conscription, which is also enslavement.