The Sixth Administrative Court of Appeal confirmed the illegality of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine's Resolution No. 225 of March 1, 2024, which provided for the deforestation of tens of hectares of forest for a military cemetery.
This was reported by Volodymyr Boreiko, director of the Kyiv Ecological and Cultural Center (KECC), on Facebook.
The panel of judges recognized the decision of the Kyiv District Administrative Court of September 25, 2024, in the operative part as valid.
The Cabinet of Ministers' Resolution No. 225, which activists are seeking to have recognized as unlawful in various courts, is entitled “Some issues of removing trees, shrubs, lawns and flower beds during preparatory and/or construction work and operation of the National Military Memorial Cemetery.” It stipulates that the removal of greenery on the territory designated for the memorial complex does not require a decision of the executive body of a village, town or city council, and the right to remove, cut and replant greenery is granted to the state institution National Military Memorial Cemetery.
"Thus, already the second court – the court of appeals – recognized as illegal the resolution of the Cabinet of Ukraine, on the basis of which mass felling of the Markhaliv forest under the military cemetery began," says Boreyko.
According to the ecologist, the government's decision grossly violates a number of laws of Ukraine, in particular the Law of Ukraine "On the Nature Reserve Fund of Ukraine" and the Law of Ukraine "On Environmental Impact Assessment", as well as the international Berne Convention ratified by Ukraine. According to Volodymyr Boreyk, the Secretariat of the Berne Convention has already started a case against Ukraine for its violation.
On July 31, 2024, Ecopolitic reported that activists of the Kyiv Ecological and Cultural Center sued against the government because of the illegal, in their opinion, Resolution No. 225, which allows the demolition of trees for the construction of a military memorial cemetery.
We also wrote about what the KECC was accused officials of the Ministry of Veterans' Affairs of Ukraine in an attempt to destroy 270 hectares of the Markhaliv Forest in order to further sell the wood and obtain a profit of UAH 80 million.
On September 25, 2024 Kyiv District Administrative Court recognized illegal resolution of the government of Ukraine No. 225, which allowed mass felling of the Markhaliv forest near Kyiv under the military memorial cemetery.
After this victory in court, eco-activists promised to continue to break this corruption scheme in the courts, which, in their opinion, was created under the guise of building a military cemetery. They are sure that the officials of the Ministry of Veterans, involved in it, should be punished.
