More than 5 hectares of forest near the village of Rudka-Myrynska in the Kovel district have been turned into a clearing of stumps. The Velytska community leased a plot of land with 40-year-old trees for grazing, and an entrepreneur took advantage of the opportunity to cut down the trees and probably make millions from them.
In its video, the Center for Investigative Journalism "Sila Pravdy" (Power of Truth) recounted the details of this story.
Pasture for a businessman who has no cows
A 12-hectare plot of forest was given to entrepreneur Serhiy Shynkaruk in August 2025. The man began large-scale logging, already "clearing" about 5.5 hectares.
According to journalists, the entrepreneur destroyed the trees in order to plow the land.
"I was going to divide it into plots and sublease them to a farmer," Serhiy Shynkaruk told journalists from Syla Pravdy.
However, according to the documents, the land is listed as pasture. Ironically, the entrepreneur does not have any cows, just like the other candidates who participated in the auction.
Source: youtube.com/@sylapravdy
The main thing for the community is to make money
The plot was registered as pasture land for grazing livestock in June 2025. In July of that year, the Velytsia village council put the plot up for auction. Three entrepreneurs took part in the bidding: Andrii Kovalchuk from Lutsk, and two residents of the Rozhyshche community, Vitalii Kudenchuk and Serhii Shynkaruk. The men are neighbors, living on the same street.
Serhiy Shynkaruk won the auction and will pay the community approximately 50,000 hryvnias per year for more than 12 hectares. The lease agreement was signed for seven years.
“One of the tasks of the village head is to fill the rural community’s budget. And one of these resources is to auction off the right to lease any land,” said Velytska community head Viktor Kovalchuk.
It seems only the entrepreneur profited
Among Shynkaruk’s business activities is logging. However, when journalists directly asked where the logs and trees had gone, he replied “how should I know where they went.”
However, Syla Pravdy emphasizes that if the tenant needed a pasture, he would have leased a pasture specifically, without spending extra money on clearing the land.
“If they are paying rent, it means they must have calculated, as I understand, how they will earn that money back,” said the community head.
After talking with local residents, Syla Pravdy’s journalists discovered that Serhiy Shynkaruk sells firewood. It appears that this was the motive for leasing the forest as pasture. The lease rules required him to bring the area in line with its designated function, which meant felling the trees – a condition he took advantage of.
About 1,000 cubic meters of timber have been cut down on the plot, approximately half of which is commercial wood, i.e., high-quality. According to investigators’ calculations, the sale of commercial timber could have brought in 4.5 million UAH, and the remaining firewood – another 1 million.
According to the head of the Velytska community, the entrepreneur was supposed to give the wood to the families of fallen soldiers and internally displaced persons. However, these families did not receive the firewood, for which the community blames the police. It seems the police allegedly seized the timber.
Source: youtube.com/@sylapravdy
Assessment of damage and probable solution
According to the conclusions of the State Environmental Inspection, entrepreneur Shynkaruk cut down about 5.5 hectares of forest. The average age of the trees is about 40 years. The damage caused by such activities amounted to more than UAH 10 million. The site is currently under arrest.
“To date, more than 900 stumps have been found. A criminal case has already been opened on this matter,” said Andriy Filyuk, head of the State Environmental Inspectorate department in Volyn region. “This logging is illegal. There is neither an order for the allocation of green plantings nor felling tickets. The registration of this land plot should be cancelled in court as agricultural land,” added Petro Testov, head of the analytical department of the Ukrainian Nature Conservation Group (UNCG).
The only way to protect the plot from further deforestation is to transfer it to forestry management. Whether it is state-run or municipal, if established by the community, does not matter.
“We have repeatedly approached village councils regarding the transfer of self-forested lands. No one is transferring this forest to us. We cannot control or protect it,” said Serhiy Tyshkovets, director of the Kovel Forest District, in a comment to ‘Syla Pravdy’.
According to experts, those responsible should be punished because impunity threatens the destruction of all self-seeded forests.
Source: youtube.com/@sylapravdy
EcoPolitic previously reported on the problems with protecting self-seeded and ownerless forests in Ukraine.
