Ukraine's environment continues to suffer damage due to deforestation. At the same time, the struggle for ownership of land in nature reserves, forests, and water resources remains an ongoing issue.
EcoPolitics has prepared for you the first digest of eco-crimes in 2026. Materials for the period from December 26 to January 2 are from official reports of the Office of the Prosecutor General and regional prosecutor's offices, the State Environmental Inspection and its branches, and the State Bureau of Investigations.
Illegal use of subsoil
The case of illegal sand extraction in the Kyiv region has been referred to court. The indictment concerns a former deputy of the Velykodymyrskyi village council, whose actions caused damage to the environment in excess of UAH 66 million. The cunning man took advantage of his official position and, under the guise of constructing a fire reservoir, extracted 41,000 cubic meters of sand. To do this, he enlisted the help of special equipment and workers.
The fight for protected lands
A plot of 53 hectares, located within the "Karmelyukove Podillya" National Park, has been returned to the state by the prosecutor's office. The nature conservation site was established in 2009, however, it turned out that back in the 1990s, this plot had been incorrectly assigned as industrial, transportation, communication, energy, and defense land. In 2021, Chechelnyk village council exploited this chaos by registering communal ownership rights to the land. The court sided with the prosecutors.
Source: Office of the Prosecutor General
A resident of Mykolaiv aided in document forgery to fraudulently acquire a picturesque plot. This act appears even more brazen considering that the land belongs to the state forest fund and is managed by the Andriivske forestry. The man has already been charged under four articles of the Criminal Code.
A land management engineer in Kirovohrad region "failed to notice" that 4 hectares of land belonged to the nature reserve fund. Due to such a convenient 'mistake', the territories were unlawfully removed from state ownership. The man was served suspicion for abuse of power with intent to gain benefit.
A resident of Kamianske district in Dnipro region cultivated and farmed 2 hectares of the local botanical reserve "Zhytlova Balka". Of course, he had no permits for this, but still destroyed the ecosystem to harvest crops. He was charged with unauthorized occupation of nature reserve fund lands.
Source: Dnipropetrovsk Regional Prosecutor's Office
Deforestation
Damages amounting to nearly UAH 57 million were caused to the environment by the "activities" of state forestry officials in the Ternopil region. An administrator of one of the state forestry enterprises has been identified as a participant in the case involving the felling of more than 6,200 trees. The man prepared and certified documents listing the trees to be felled, but disregarded legal procedures – he did not carry out actual measurements and “forgot” about the felling ban on the designated plots. Other involved officials – the director and the chief forester – had previously been served with notices of suspicion.
Source: Office of the Prosecutor General
A real five-year sentence was handed down to a forester also from the Ternopil region. Due to his negligence, he was found guilty of embezzling property on a particularly large scale – nearly UAH 4 million. The official signed documents authorizing felling on prohibited areas, failed to ensure proper protection of the trees, and conducted illegal logging himself.
The State Environmental Inspectorate of the Polissia District has filed multi-million-hryvnia lawsuits against communities in the Zhytomyr region. Because of large-scale illegal logging that these communities allowed on their territory, they now must compensate the state for damages: Malyn community – UAH 3.3 million, Potiivka community – UAH 2.5 million, Pulyny community – UAH 2 million.
Source: State Environmental Inspectorate of the Polissia District
The previous digest of environmental crimes from EcoPolityka is available at the link.
