Ukraine's national parks received tree felling quotas from the Ministry of Environmental Protection that did not restrict work during the "silent season." As a result, tree plantations were destroyed in nature reserves at a time when this was prohibited by law.
It was precisely because of the issuance of such illegal limits that the Kyiv Ecological and Cultural Center (KECC) appealed to the Specialized Environmental Prosecutor's Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine.
Permitted, if not prohibited
The period from April 1 to June 15 is the active breeding season for wild animals and birds, so the Ukrainian law "On the Animal World" prohibits all types of logging, even sanitary logging, during this time.
However, according to the KECC, the limits issued by the former Ministry of Environment in the first half of 2025 did not mention this restriction.
"Therefore, these logging operations were carried out by nature reserve institutions during the Season of Silence, causing enormous ecological damage (cut down trees, destroyed bird nests) to protected ecosystems," writes KECC Director Volodymyr Boreiko.
Environmental activists claim that 15 institutions received similar permits for tree felling. Among them are the Galician, Uzhansky, Boikivshchyna, and Kivertsky National Nature Parks, the N. Ya. Goldenberg Park, the Chernobyl Biosphere Reserve, and Mezhigorye.
According to environmentalists, the limits issued violate current legislation, so the KEKC is asking the prosecutor's office to open criminal proceedings and bring all officials of the former Ministry of Environment involved to justice.
"In general, the KECC believes that under the guise of so-called "limits" on logging in national parks, the leadership of the Ministry of Environment has created a corrupt scheme to plunder the national heritage of the Ukrainian people and enrich the leadership of the Ministry of Environment (now the Ministry of Economy and Environment) and some directors of national parks and reserves," adds Volodymyr Boreiko.
Photo: facebook.com/kekz.ua
EcoPolitic systematically reports on violations related to illegal logging. Every week, new facts emerge about the destruction of tree plantations worth tens of millions of hryvnias, and the scheme of forestry officials in Zakarpattia caused the state losses of 721 million hryvnias.
