EcoPolitic has collected for its readers the 7 most significant cases of environmental damage reported by the press services of prosecutors' offices, as well as the State Environmental Inspectorate of Ukraine and its territorial bodies during the week of January 11-17.
1. In Ivano-Frankivsk region, the former head of a utility company is suspected of land pollution that caused more than UAH 7 million in environmental damage. During his tenure as director of the utility company in 2021-2024, he failed to ensure that the company complied with the requirements of the legislation on land protection and waste management: he did not dispose of waste but placed it on the land used by the company. Thus, the offender turned more than 3 hectares of land in Kolomyia district into a solid waste landfill.
Photo: ifr.gp.gov.ua.
2. Law enforcement officers in Ternopil Oblast exposed an organized criminal group of "black loggers" who illegally cut down forests on almost UAH 1 million. It consisted of 4 people. During April-August 2024, they cut down oak trees on the territory of one of the forests of the Kremenets Forest Farm without any permits. The perpetrators carefully masked the traces of fresh felling by covering the stumps of felled trees with earth and leaves.
Freshly felled trees were cut into logs and transported to the territory of one of the farms in the village of Kozov to a prearranged place, where the wood was sorted and sawn into boards. Prosecutors have already informed all members of the group about the suspicion.
3. In Poltava region, law enforcement officers caught a village head on a bribe of more than UAH 60,000 for obtaining a permit to cut down trees. The press service of the regional prosecutor's office said that in January of this year, the official received an undue benefit from a contractor for providing him with permits to cut down trees on a land plot.
The chairman involved an intermediary – an individual entrepreneur who leases the land plot – in the transfer of funds. Law enforcement officers detained the suspects after receiving the money.
Photo: pol.gp.gov.ua.
Photo: pol.gp.gov.ua.
Photo: pol.gp.gov.ua.
So far, preventive measures have been imposed on both men: the village head – detention with the right to post bail, the FOP – bail.
4. Prosecutors in Ternopil Oblast directed to the court an indictment against a former official of one of the city councils of the region. He promised a local entrepreneur to influence the city council officials in preparing documentation and concluding a contract for the clearing of a 46-hectare plot of land by felling forest plantations and uprooting them on the site located on the territory of the territorial community.
The official rated his services at 500 thousand UAH. The law enforcement officers documented the fact that he received part of the illegal profit in the amount of 25,000. UAH Now the briber faces imprisonment for a term of 2 to 5 years.
5. Eco-inspectors of the Carpathian District calculated damages in the amount more than UAH 1.1 millionfor illegal felling of 68 raw-growing trees of various species outside the settlement of the village. Interriver tract "Zarechye" in the Ivano-Frankivsk region.
6. The Ecoinspection in Khmelnytskyi Region sent a lawsuit to the Commercial Court of Khmelnytskyi Region for compensation for losses of KP "Izyaslavvodokanal" in the amount more than UAH 28 million, caused to the environment by discharge of polluting substances into the Horyn River with return water.
7. In the Lviv region, the eco-inspection filed a lawsuit against KP Striyvodokanal. They require the enterprise to compensate damages in the amount more than UAH 1.2 millionfor excessive discharge of return (wastewater) water from treatment facilities into the Stryi River.
Read about what environmental violations were recorded at the beginning of this year in our previous digest for January 4-10.
