EcoPolitics has collected the 7 most significant cases of environmental damage that were made public during the week of December 7-13. The information was published by the State Bureau of Investigation, the Zaxid.net portal, the press services of prosecutors, and the units of the State Ecological Inspectorate of Ukraine.
- 7 heads of agro-forestry enterprises in Sumy region and a former deputy director general of the regional utility Sumyoblagrolis will be brought to trial. They sold valuable tree species bypassing commodity exchanges at below-market prices. They signed contracts directly with selected entrepreneurs. Due to this criminal scheme, the state lost almost UAH 11 million. The 7 defendants are accused of using their official position to obtain illegal benefits, and the former deputy director general is accused of negligence.
The article provides for imprisonment for up to 6 years. Prosecutors have filed civil lawsuits to compensate for the damages, and the court seized the foresters' property.
- Ecological inspectors of the Polissia District discovered illegal logging on self-forested land near the village of Zoryanka in the territory of the Barashivka village council of the Zvyagel district of Zhytomyr region. Unidentified persons cut down trees of various species on a plot with an approximate area of 35 hectares.
Photo: t.me/polissyareg_dei.
Photo: t.me/polissyareg_dei.
Inspectors called an investigative team and sent letters to law enforcement agencies.
- Court admitted guilty of illegal mining of the director of the company "Andozit" Yosyp Talabirchuk. He organized a criminal group that mined gravel on the protective strip and in the Tisza riverbed near the village of Korolevo, Berehiv District, Zakarpattia Oblast. Talabirchuk involved his son Ivan Talabirchuk, who had special equipment, and Mykola Novak, who knew how to operate it, in the case. They were arrested red-handed on May 29, 2024.
Photo: zaxid.net.
Before that, the attackers managed to extract 5.6 thousand cubic meters of sand-gravel mixture. They sold the obtained material to local people. The court awarded the businessman and his accomplices 170 thousand each. UAH fine.
- 19-year-old resident of Sarnen region will conduct behind bars for 5 years and 6 months for mining amber on the territory of the "Banky" tract, within the nature reserve. The court sentenced him to 4 years of imprisonment, and taking into account the previous conviction for committing theft, the final sentence was 5 years and 6 months of imprisonment.
The perpetrator was detained in March 2023, when he and a group of people were extracting "solar" stones with the help of a motor pump.
- Prosecutors of the Okhtyr District Prosecutor's Office reported on the suspicion of a 51-year-old local resident due to the fact of illegal felling of trees on the territory of the "Hetmansky" National Nature Park in the Okhtyr district of the Sumy region. "Black Lumberjack" illegally cut down 46 alder trees with a chainsaw. This caused losses in the amount of more than UAH 2 million .
- Yemilchyn Forestry of the State Enterprise "Forests of Ukraine" in Zhytomyr Oblast will pay to the special fund of Yemilchyna settlement council more than UAH 1 million environmental damage. This decision was made by the Economic Court of Zhytomyr region.
The forest farm littered and polluted 1.5 hectares of forest land with woodworking waste. Eco-inspectors recorded that in some places the height of the piles of waste reached 3.5 m. According to the conclusions of the forensic engineering and environmental examination, the forest farm collected 52.5 thousand on the lands of the forest fund. cube. m of waste.
Photo: zhit.gp.gov.ua.
Photo: zhit.gp.gov.ua.
Photo: zhit.gp.gov.ua.
- Prosecutors of the Kirovohrad Regional Prosecutor's Office renewed the right of the state on the land of the nature reserve fund – landscape reserve of local importance "Lozuvatsky" – by value more than UAH 220 million . His plot of land with an area of 46.8 hectares was unjustifiably classified as agricultural land of the communal property of the Onufriiv settlement council of the Oleksandriy district.
The Economic Court of the Kirovohrad Region agreed with the arguments of the prosecutors and canceled the illegal registration of the land plot in the State Land Cadastre.
The other day Ecopolitics reported that the state of water in the Black Sea and adjacent estuaries is gradually improving is improving .
