Members of the Kyiv Ecological and Cultural Center (KECC) accused officials of the Ministry of Veterans Affairs of Ukraine of trying to destroy 270 hectares of the Marshall Forest with the aim of further selling timber and making a profit of UAH 80 million.
They posted their assumptions and thoughts on this matter on the center's Facebook page.
According to Vladimir Boreyko, director of the KECC, the corruption scheme includes groups of officials of the Minveterans and the National War Memorial Cemetery.
Under the construction of the memorial complex, they chose 270 hectares of forest near the village of Markhalovka near Kyiv, which, according to the ecologist, is part of the international Emerald Network and belongs to a special group of protected recreational forests.
According to the law, commercial logging in this zone is prohibited, but the construction of a military cemetery allows you to bypass all the necessary licensing procedures, including EIA.
Source: facebook.com/kekz.ua.
According to the calculations of KECC, it is possible to obtain about 43 thousand cubic meters from cutting down 270 hectares of the Markhaliv forest. m of wood. Of them, approximately 20,000 cubic meters – valuable business wood and about 23 thousand cubic meters – firewood. If you sell commercial wood for an average of UAH 3,000 per cubic meter and firewood is three times cheaper, so according to Volodymyr Boreyk, you can get about UAH 80 million in net profit for the Markhaliv forest cut down.
Source: facebook.com/kekz.ua.
"Officials did not grow this forest, did not protect it, but thanks to a corruption scheme, they acquired it, without paying a penny for its acquisition. In short, we have a real corrupt scheme to enrich a group of officials of the Ministry of Veterans Affairs and the memorial military complex at the expense of the state by destroying a beautiful pine forest that is part of the international Emerald network," says the ecologist.
He also reminded that officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the memorial military complex held a tender for the construction of the first phase of this memorial. Among its winners are dubious companies with ties to Russian structures.
Photo: Picket of local residents against the destruction of the Markhaliv forest. Source: facebook.com/kekz.ua.
This situation takes on even greater resonance against the background of the critical situation with forests in Ukraine, where a large part has already been cut down, burned during fires or destroyed by war. According to Volodymyr Boreyk, the area of planned felling of 270 hectares is very large and is equal to the annual felling of the forest, which is carried out by an ordinary forest farm during the year.
The ecologist emphasized that even before the war, Ukraine had one of the lowest forest cover in Europe – about 15%. For comparison, he cited corresponding figures in other countries: Sweden has 58% forest cover, Spain – 57%, France – 36%, Turkey – 27%, Austria – 47%, Germany – 31%, Poland – 28%.
Also, the director of KECC was indignant that the government headed by Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal approved the project that allows the felling of the Markhaliv forest without even understanding the issue.
As EcoPolitic reported earlier, criticizing ex-Minister of the Ministry of Environment Ruslan Strilets for his activities in this position, Volodymyr Boreyko pointed out and on the destruction of the Markhaliv forest. He said that currently the Secretariat of the Berne Convention began to investigate this violation of Ukraine at the international level.
