Zebra for 3 million: Russian occupiers turned "Askania-Nova" into a live animal market

Chapman’s zebras are being sold on Russian online marketplaces, which sellers call animals from the Ukrainian biosphere reserve “Askania-Nova” on the temporarily occupied territory of the Kherson region. For one zebra they are already asking more than 3 million rubles.

This is reported in an investigation by URSA.MEDIA, published on 7 July 2026.

Journalists found the seller in October 2025 and communicated with him until mid-March 2026. At first he named a price of 2 million rubles, and after resuming correspondence on 3 July he said that the zebra already costs more than 3 million rubles. The man sent photos and video of the animal and assured that he has a contact with a person who catches zebras directly in the reserve.

Journalists cited the Russian seller’s words about the origin of the offered animal.

“The zebra is from Askania, we cooperate, we have a person who regularly helps to catch animals from them”.

The man agreed to provide further details only in the Russian messenger MAX, for which an RF phone number is required to register. Because of this, the investigators could not continue communication posing as buyers. They also found similar photos of the zebra in listings on the Russian platform “Avito”.

At the same time, journalists emphasize: it is currently impossible to definitively prove that the animal offered for sale comes from “Askania-Nova”. This must be established by the investigation. However, the illegal removal of animals from the reserve has already been documented by Ukrainian law enforcement.

According to the investigation, one of the coordinators of moving the animals and negotiating with buyers was the collaborator Valentyn Subotin — the “deputy director” appointed by the occupying authorities. Before the full-scale invasion he led the reserve’s mechanized brigade, and after the seizure of the institution he sided with the occupiers.

The lawful director of “Askania-Nova”, Viktor Shapoval, reported that the Russians have already taken at least 10 Chapman’s zebras — almost a third of the entire herd that was kept in the reserve before the invasion. Some of the animals were moved to private zoos in occupied Crimea and Russia’s Krasnodar Krai.

In June 2026, Ukrainian law enforcement authorities announced suspicions in absentia against the owner of the Crimean safari park “Taigan”, Oleh Zubkov. According to the investigation, during 2023–2024 he was involved in the removal of 10 Chapman’s zebras and 3 cows of the rare gray Ukrainian breed. Losses to the nature reserve fund were estimated at over 67 million hryvnias.

The International Fund for Animal Welfare believes that the sale of rare animals through online marketplaces may indicate not an isolated incident but an established network of illegal trade. This is indicated by the high value of the animals, the involvement of private zoos, and the existence of channels for their capture and transport.

The occupation threatens not only individual animals but the entire unique natural complex. The reserve’s collection of Cape buffalo has already died out, and due to a fire related to military actions more than 200 saiga antelopes died. At the end of June 2026 the fire also destroyed nearly 2 thousand hectares of the reserve steppe.

Earlier we wrote:

• In one month 56 dead dolphins were found: what the war is doing to the Black Sea
• Russia may be preparing a provocation with anthrax in the Kherson region, – intelligence
• Billions of tonnes of water engulfed towns and villages: anniversary of the Russian attack on the Kakhovka HPP
• The disaster area may become a reserve: scientists speak about the unique value of the former reservoir
• At the site of the reserve — a desert: the war destroyed the unique Kinburn Spit