In the Volyn region, Roman Kolodyuk, the forester of the Sokyrychiv Forest District of the state-owned enterprise ‘Forests of Ukraine’, stood trial. The official facilitated the felling of hundreds of trees, resulting in losses to the state exceeding 1.9 million hryvnias. However, following a plea bargain with the prosecution, the offender did not go to prison.
This was reported by the “Power of Truth” Centre for Investigative Journalism.
The organiser of the illegal felling
The offence took place back in September 2025 on the territory of the Sokyrychiv Forest District, part of the Kivertsi Forest Region of the state-owned enterprise “Forests of Ukraine”. As law enforcement officers established, the official organised illegal felling in section 6 of block 91.
Roman Kolodyuk, of course, did not act alone. He enlisted the help of contractors who, under the terms of their contract, were supposed to carry out lawful felling. The contractor was unaware that he was committing a crime – the workers were following the instructions of the forester, who himself indicated which trees were to be felled.
Consequently, these personal instructions from the official led to the illegal felling of 100 trees. Among them were pines, oaks, chestnuts and birches. There were no legal grounds for felling them – no felling permit had been issued.
Source: Volyn Regional Prosecutor's Office
Mitigated Sentence
The defendant in July 2026 entered into a plea agreement, agreeing to cooperate with the investigation. These were the "circumstances" that resulted in rather lenient punishment for a large-scale crime.
The court also took into account other circumstances: absence of a criminal record, good character references, raising two children (as his wife serves in the military), and his status as a combatant. Kolodyuk also agreed to make a donation in support of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
“…sincere remorse, active assistance in solving the criminal offense, voluntary financial contribution to strengthen Ukraine’s defense capability, which, given today’s challenges, serves the public interest that requires priority financial support for the country’s defense sector," as stated in the court documents.
However, the exact amount the forester donated to the Armed Forces of Ukraine is unknown, as is whether he compensated more than UAH 1.9 million in environmental damages.
The Kivertsi District Court approved the agreement and found Kolodyuk guilty of illegal logging and abuse of office. He was to be sentenced to five years of imprisonment but the sentence was immediately replaced with a three-year probation period. The forester was also prohibited from holding positions in law enforcement agencies for one year and was ordered to pay UAH 8,000 for the expert examination.
It should be noted that the punishment for the official is not commensurate with the sentences given to ordinary “black loggers” even when the damages are several times smaller. In Odesa region, two men received three years of probation for cutting down five trees, which caused damages of 40,000 UAH. A father and son who cut down 20 oaks in Kyiv region were sentenced to five years of imprisonment each.
Recall that back in the fall of 2025, the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) acknowledged the systemic nature of corruption in the forestry sector. Only during 2025, crimes committed by forestry officials caused the state damages totaling 546 million UAH.
