EcoPolitic has collected the 5 most significant cases of environmental damage that were made public during the week of July 19-25. The information was published by the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI), the press services of prosecutors, and the State Ecological Inspectorate of Ukraine and its subdivisions.
1. In Zakarpattia, SBI officers served a notice of suspicion to a forester of the Lazeshchyna forestry. Due to his negligence, almost 3.5 thousand trees of various species worth almost UAH 56 million were illegally cut down on the territory of two forestry rounds.
Photo: zak.gp.gov.ua.
Investigators claim that the official was aware of the illegal logging, but did not report it to his superiors or contact law enforcement. He was notified of suspicion under Part 2 of Article 367 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine – he is charged with negligence that caused grave consequences.
Photo: zak.gp.gov.ua.
The forester has already been dismissed from his position. The court will consider a motion to impose a measure of restraint in the form of house arrest. If the official's guilt is proven, he faces up to 5 years in prison.
Photo: zak.gp.gov.ua.
Investigators are now also identifying other people involved in these illegal logging operations.
2. In the Sulynskyi Nature Reserve in Poltava region, environmental inspectors from the Central District together with police caught poachers once again. About 35 kg of fish were found in their vessel, and about 200 meters of unmarked nets were found near the place of detention. Law enforcement officers assume that these are fishing gear that the offenders tried to hide by throwing into the water.
Photo: pl.npu.gov.ua.
According to preliminary estimates, the amount of damage is over UAH 3 million. The poachers face up to 3 years in prison.
3. 8 people who organized 4 illegal hazardous waste dumps in Kyiv region will be brought to court. The organizer and 5 members of the organized group, as well as two heads of fictitious enterprises, illegally dumped waste to 4 locations: in the village of Zazymie, in Bila Tserkva (Hayok district) and on two land plots in the village of Shkarivka, Bila Tserkva district, under the guise of providing waste removal and disposal services.
The criminal group operated from 2021 to July 2024. The firms had neither licenses nor equipment necessary for the disposal of such waste. That is, batteries, lamps, syringes, and hazardous liquids were simply brought to the site and buried.
By doing so, the defendants contaminated land plots with a total area of more than 7,000 square meters with substances harmful to human health and the environment: copper, chromium, zinc, antimony, phosphorus, molybdenum, nickel, and lead.
The damage caused by this pollution amounted to UAH 9.5 million.
4. Environmental inspectors in Lviv Oblast calculated damages totaling almost UAH 52 million for illegal logging in 9 (!!!) forestries of the Lviv Superforestry of the Carpathian Forest Office branch of the State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine”. They sent the collected materials to the Lviv Regional Prosecutor's Office.
5. In Odesa region, specialists of the Southwestern District Inspectorate calculated damages in the amount of more than UAH 1.5 million for the contamination and pollution of water fund lands and lands under special protection as historical and cultural heritage with mixed waste of destruction. Most likely, we are talking about the case when representatives of the municipal enterprise MC Blahoustrii removed the wreckage of the Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi Lyceum No. 1 destroyed by a Russian missile to fill it on the territory of the Rybatskyi Krai berth No. 1.
Recently, EcoPolitic wrote that hazardous waste from oil and gas drilling – drill cuttings – is being stored in illegal landfills in Kyiv Oblast instead of being properly disposed of.
