UPDATE 1-Ukraine's PrivatBank makes more claims against former owners

Ukraine's largest lender PrivatBank, which was nationalized in 2016, said on Thursday it had initiated more legal claims abroad for compensation against its former owners.

The bank said in a statement it had started new litigation at the district court of Tel Aviv in Israel for a claim of $600 million. The bank has also increased the amount of its claim in a separate case at the Chancery Court of Delaware in the United States.

PrivatBank made the announcement on the same day as a court in Ukraine began hearing the authorities' appeal in another case between the state and former PrivatBank owner Ihor Kolomoisky, who said the bank's 2016 nationalization was illegal. Ukraine's decision to take PrivatBank into state hands as part of a donor-backed clean-up of the financial system has spawned hundreds of legal cases.

The government says shady lending practices under Kolomoisky caused billions of dollars of losses to PrivatBank. Kolomoisky denies wrongdoing and disputes the central bank's characterization of PrivatBank's finances. Kolomoisky did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the Tel Aviv and Delaware cases. He earlier told Reuters he expected a "fair verdict" on the case being heard in the Kiev court on Thursday.

PrivatBank is seen as a test of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's reform agenda and willingness to tackle the deep-rooted vested interests that have long held back Ukraine's development.