Buyers sense a bargain at first invasion-related sale of oligarch's $75m superyacht, says auction lead

In the first such auction since the war broke out, a $75 million yacht seized from a Russian billionaire will be sold in Gibraltar.

After docking in Gibraltar in March, the Axioma was seized due to its size.

Forbes reported that it was owned by the Russian tycoon Dmitry Pumpyansky, who had a net worth of $1 billion.

His assets were frozen by the UK and the EU as part of a mass of sanctions imposed over Russia's invasion of Ukrainian.

The broker leading the auction said there had been an unexpected late surge by prospective buyers, with over 30 people flying to the UK to view the yacht.

He said that people who own or have owned boats of similar size are attracted to this boat because of the judicial sale process.

According to the newspaper, the money from the sale will go to JP Morgan, which says that the previous owner owes them a lot of money.

At the 21 April meeting of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund member states, Zelenskyy gave the go-ahead for the funds from seized Russian assets to be given toUkraine.