The Deputy Head of Ukraine's National Bank, Ekatrina Rozhkova, has called on the country's largest commercial bank, PrivatBank, to sell off the Ukraine International Airlines (PS, Kyiv Boryspil) (UIA) aircraft on its books. Ukrainian News (UkraNews.com) reports Rozhkova as saying the bank is not able to effectively manage its non-core assets.

PrivatBank was nationalised in December 2016, at which point UIA aircraft were put on its balance sheets.

"Last year, when the first stage of capitalization was carried out, part of the assets were taken to the bank's balance sheet to repay the loan debt, including Bukovel [ski resort], real estate and UIA aircraft," Rozhkova explained, adding that the aircraft are not collateral.

The relationship between PrivatBank and UIA appears to be a rocky one, with the airline earlier this year denying that the bank had taken over all of its financial operations.

"We declare with all responsibility that this information is untrue and must be officially denied," an airline statement in March said. "UIA did not have and does not have any accounts with PrivatBank and does not have any relationship with the bank, except for the technical service of cash collection at the airport of Lviv."

Then in September, a UIA B767-300(ER) was implicated in an embezzlement case connected to PrivatBank co-owner Ihor Kolomoysky, who is also a part owner of UIA.