The “Khortytsia” distillery in Zaporizhzhia, one of the key production assets of the international alcohol holding company Global Spirits, was completely destroyed as a result of a Russian attack and cannot be restored, the company’s press office told NV Business on August 28; the news was also reported by Interfax-Ukraine.
According to Global Spirits, the facility was struck four times, after which the fire raged for at least three hours. The company lost approximately 3–4 million bottles of finished products, for which excise taxes had already been paid. Some of the goods were completely burned, while others melted and must be disposed of. The company estimates the average cost of a single bottle at approximately 100 UAH.
Thus, the cost of the destroyed finished products alone could amount to about 300–400 million UAH, not including the cost of production equipment, buildings, infrastructure, and losses resulting from the plant’s shutdown.
The “Khortytsia” plant was built from the ground up and began operations in 2003. Prior to the fire, it employed more than 500 people, and the bottling lines had a capacity of up to 16 bottles per second. In addition to “Khortytsia” vodka, the company produced products under the “Morosha,” “Pervak,” “Medova,” “Pshenichna Sloza,” and Gold Ukraine brands.
This is already the second major blow to Global Spirits’ logistics and production infrastructure in the past month and a half. On the night of July 19, a Russian missile destroyed the company’s main finished goods warehouse in the Kyiv region. At that time, the warehouse facilities and inventory were destroyed, and preliminary damage exceeded 100 million UAH, of which approximately 74 million UAH consisted of previously paid taxes.
Following the loss of its Zaporizhzhia facility, Global Spirits retains its other production sites. The holding company’s official website, under the “Our Plants” section, currently lists the Odessa Cognac Plant and the “Hetman” plant in Lviv. The Lviv facility has six modern Italian production lines and manufactures approximately 160 varieties of vodka.
The Odessa Cognac Plant is one of the oldest enterprises in the industry in Ukraine. Its history dates back to 1863 and is linked to the Shustov dynasty. Global Spirits acquired the facility in 2007. The plant has a full production cycle for brandy and cognac, Europe’s largest distillation facility, and a stock of more than 15,000 barrels of cognac spirits.
In addition to its Ukrainian facilities, the list of production sites on Global Spirits’ corporate website includes the Owensboro Distilling Company in Kentucky, USA, which produces American bourbon, as well as Compañía Tequilera Hacienda La Capilla in the state of Jalisco, Mexico, where tequila is produced.
Global Spirits positions itself as one of Europe’s largest international spirits holding companies. Its products are available in more than 87 countries, its headquarters are located in New York, and its proprietary distribution infrastructure covers 31 U.S. states. The company reports a production capacity of over 300 million bottles per year and more than 5,000 employees.
Its portfolio includes more than 15 alcoholic beverage brands, among them “Khortytsia,” “Morosha,” “Pervak,” Shustoff, Oreanda, San Marino, “Medova,” and others.
Over the years, the “Khortytsia” brand has repeatedly been ranked among the world’s largest vodka brands. As early as 2006, it made the top 10 of the World Millionaires’ Club; in 2015, the IWSR named “Khortytsia” the world’s third-largest vodka brand by sales volume; and in Drinks International’s 2019 ranking, the brand was also among the top three globally.
By the end of 2025, Global Spirits had strengthened its position in the global vodka market. In The Spirits Business’s The Brand Champions 2026 ranking, published in June, “Khortytsia” took third place among the world’s best-selling vodka brands with a volume of 11.7 million nine-liter cases, trailing only Smirnoff and Absolut. Another Global Spirits brand—“Morosha”—took fourth place with 11.2 million cases and was named the 2026 Vodka Brand Champion.
In addition, Global Spirits’ “Pshenichna Slioza” vodka nearly tripled its sales in 2025—to 6.1 million nine-liter cases—and entered the global top 10 for the first time, taking eighth place.
Thus, the destruction of the Zaporizhzhia plant affected not only a major Ukrainian enterprise but also the production base of the holding company, whose brands are among the global leaders in the vodka market. At the same time, the presence of facilities in Lviv, Odesa, and outside Ukraine allows Global Spirits to redistribute part of its production, although the company has not yet disclosed exactly where the volume previously produced by the “Khortytsia” plant will be compensated for.
According to NV Business, citing YouControl, Global Spirits Group LLC’s revenue in 2025 fell by 54.3% to 1.4 billion UAH; however, the company moved out of a loss of 235.3 million UAH and posted a net profit of 57 million UAH.
