There are many ways to harm Ukraine’s natural environment—cutting down trees, converting protected lands into farmland, or increasing toxic emissions from industrial facilities. And this week’s “heroes” have resorted to all of them.
We present to you the traditional weekly digest of environmental crimes from EcoPolitic, this time covering March 14–20. The information for this report was obtained from official sources—the Office of the Prosecutor General and regional prosecutor’s offices, the State Bureau of Investigations, and the State Environmental Inspection.
Illegal enrichment
This week it became known that funds seized from a notorious official of the Prydniprovska State Environmental Inspectorate were transferred to ARMA. These funds amount to $880,000 and €201,500, which at the exchange rate equals over UAH 48 million. EcoPolitica had previously reported that the head of one of the departments of the regional environmental inspectorate is suspected of illegal enrichment.
Source: State Bureau of Investigation
Environmental pollution
According to the State Environmental Inspectorate, this week eco-inspectors calculated damages and filed a claim against PJSC “Kyiv Margarine Plant” for almost UAH 70.2 million. Over a long period, the plant allowed excessive emissions into the atmosphere.
Also in the capital, eco-inspectors calculated environmental damages from sewage pollution in the Sviatoshynskyi district. The amount of harm is nearly UAH 6.6 million.
Fires in ecosystems
A farmer in Dnipropetrovsk region received a suspicion of having caused UAH 2 million in damages by setting fire to stubble. The man decided to “clean” a field of dry vegetation with fire, resulting in almost 8 hectares of the field being burned. The fertile soil layer was scorched to a depth of up to 5 cm, so the land will now need at least seven years to recover.
EcoPolitic additionally reminds that burning dry vegetation is harmful, dangerous, and very costly.
Source: Dnipropetrovsk Regional Prosecutor's Office
Struggle for property
In Zhytomyr region, one of the village councils leased 100 hectares of the water fund, valued at over UAH 2 million, to a private company. However, it turned out that the plot includes state-owned hydraulic engineering structures. Thus, the land must belong to the state, and the village council had no right to dispose of it. The prosecutor's office returned the land to state ownership.
Also in Zhytomyr region, prosecutors managed to return land worth UAH 9.8 million to the state. These are forestry-designated plots that were illegally transferred into private ownership.
In the Kharkiv region, the former head of the land resources department of one of the district state administrations is set to stand trial. The official approved a land-use plan for 2 hectares of land that had been transferred to the private ownership of a local resident. However, part of this land belonged to the forest fund. To avoid contradictions, the defendant signed a conclusion in which he illegally changed the designated use of forest land to agricultural land.
Damage compensation
The court ordered SE "Forests of Ukraine" to compensate more than 1.5 million UAH for environmental damage. In the Zhytomyr region, the enterprise stored sawdust in a layer over 3 m thick without isolation. As a result, approximately 2 ha of land was contaminated with chlorides, sulfates, and other toxic chemicals.
Another lawsuit against SE "Forests of Ukraine" was filed by prosecutors of the Ternopil region. There, because the employees of the Kremenets Forestry Branch failed to provide proper protection for the forest, trees on an area of over 20 ha were damaged by illegal logging. Losses amounted to 3.7 million UAH.
The Carpathian National Park allowed illegal logging of valuable trees on its territory. Due to negligence and improper protection, environmental losses totaled more than 1.5 million UAH. Now, the prosecutor’s office is seeking to recover the damages from the reserve institution through court action.
Logging of trees
Five residents of the Poltava region systematically cut down trees in forest belts of the region. They transported, processed, and sold the timber to the population. The "black loggers" were caught red-handed during logging. The suspects have been notified of suspicion. The damage to the state exceeded 3 million UAH.
Source: Poltava Regional Prosecutor’s Office
In the right-of-way of the Krasylivka–Nadynivka highway in the Chernihiv region, young forest was illegally logged. The State Environmental Inspectorate carried out calculations and found that the environmental damage reached nearly 5 million UAH.
You can read which crimes against Ukrainian nature were included in last week’s digest at the link.
