The top spot among this week's most environmentally damaging crimes goes to illegal peat extraction in Khmelnytskyi Oblast. However, foresters also made their contribution through illegal logging, as did poachers who pulled out fish worth millions of hryvnias.
EcoPolitic has prepared its traditional weekly review of crimes against the environment. The information about them for the period from 24 to 30 October was published by the Office of the Prosecutor General and regional prosecutor's offices, the State Bureau of Investigation and the State Environmental Inspectorate with its regional units.
Illegal use of subsoil
Almost UAH 142 million in environmental damage due to illegal peat extraction. In Khmelnytskyi Oblast, a notice of suspicion has been served on a private entrepreneur who organised an illegal quarry and the sale of peat. In total, over 113,000 cubic metres of peat, or almost 57,000 tonnes, were illegally extracted from a plot of more than 2.6 ha intended for personal farming. As a result, the area has turned into a network of six ponds.
Source: Office of the Prosecutor General
Forestry cases
Valuable tree species destroyed worth over UAH 5.5 million. In Vinnytsia Oblast, notices of suspicion have been served on four employees of the Haisyn forestry branch of SE "Forests of Ukraine". An organised group of two foresters and two forest masters made money from illegal logging for two years. They were helped by manipulating documents, which understated the number, size and suitability categories of the trees. This is how the forestry was "thinned out" by more than 100 oaks, hornbeams and ash trees.
Source: Vinnytsia Regional Prosecutor's Office
More than 1,000 pine and birch trees were destroyed on the territory of SE "Hrozynske" in Zhytomyr Oblast. Environmental inspectors discovered this during a lawful inspection. The damage to the environment reached almost UAH 11.3 million. The State Environmental Inspectorate recalls that as recently as 2023, large-scale illegal logging was also recorded here – almost 2,700 trees, with damage exceeding UAH 14.6 million.
Source: State Environmental Inspectorate of the Polissia District
Environmental pollution
Burning car tyres instead of recycling them. In Kyiv, a notice of suspicion has been served on the director of a company that, since 2021, had been solving its tyre problem by burning them in industrial furnaces. Needless to say, it had neither a licence nor emission permits. Meanwhile, the combustion residues and used tyres were stored on a communally owned plot not intended for this purpose, which additionally polluted the soil. The sulphate content alone exceeded the norm by 4.8 times. The contamination of the land plot alone caused UAH 3.9 million in damage to the environment.
Source: Kyiv City Prosecutor's Office
Valuable land
In Zakarpattia, SE "Forests of Ukraine" must demarcate on the ground the boundaries of primeval forest sites covering 2,135 ha. This decision was made by courts of first instance following lawsuits filed by the prosecutor's office. Without clearly defined boundaries, such sites are at risk of economic interference. In particular, decisions concerning the "Turbat Forestry" (136.8 ha), "Primeval and Quasi-Primeval Forests of the Lopukhiv Forestry" (100 ha) and "Primeval and Quasi-Primeval Forests of the Turytsia Forestry" (643.9 ha) are already being enforced.
As a reminder, while building a forest road to the Runa mountain pasture with its scandalous wind farm, "Forests of Ukraine" has already destroyed a section of primeval forest in Shypot.
In Mykolaiv Oblast, more than 33 ha of land of the "Buzkyi Gard" National Nature Park worth over UAH 4.7 million have been returned to the state. The valuable territory had previously passed into communal ownership as agricultural land. This criminal decision was made by a regional body of the StateGeoCadastre.
Poaching
On Lake Kuhurlui in Odesa Oblast, an offender who caught almost 800 fish was detected. The fisherman was found to have 20 monofilament nets. The damage from illegal fishing reached almost UAH 1.4 million. Materials are being prepared for submission to court.
Source: State Environmental Inspectorate of the South-Western District
Nature suffered another UAH 1 million or more in damage due to illegal fishing in the "Sulynskyi" landscape reserve in Poltava Oblast. Two offenders in an inflatable boat with prohibited nets pulled 57 kg of fish out of protected waters. Environmental inspectors have handed the materials over to law enforcement.
Source: State Environmental Inspectorate of the Central District
The State Environmental Inspectorate also reminded that from 1 November, fishing is prohibited in designated wintering pits. Outside them, fishing is allowed provided that the established rules and restrictions are observed.
You can read last week's digest of environmental violations here.
