EcoPolitic has collected 6 of the most significant cases of environmental damage that were made public in the period from March 15th to 21st. The information was published by the press services of prosecutors' offices, the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI), and the State Environmental Inspectorate of Ukraine with its subdivisions.
1. SBI officers, the police, and the State Border Guard Service exposed the head of a law enforcement agency in Volyn. In early 2024, he organized illegal deforestation in the border area. The official involved residents.
Photo: dbr.gov.ua.
Photo: dbr.gov.ua.
Under his cover, they cut down high-value wood of various species in the border area, which they transported to illegal sawmills and sold afterward.
Photo: dbr.gov.ua.
According to the initial estimates, the environmental damage caused by such illegal activities could reach several million UAH.
The law enforcement official was served a notice of suspicion in illegal deforestation, obtaining illegal benefits, and misappropriation of property. He may be sentenced to imprisonment for up to 10 years with the confiscation of property.
2. The SBI also served suspicion notices to 4 members of an organized criminal group that illegally cut down forests on the territory of the Brusturyansky Forestry and Hunting Range in Zakarpattia region. The organizer of the deal was the head of the Brusturyansky forestry. He involved 3 employees in the illegal activity: two forest masters and a head engineer of forestry.
Following the illegal instructions of their employer, these forest masters allocated the following 4 areas for the thinning operations, which were not supposed to be cut. The lead engineer illegally issued a logging permit for these works.
Photo: dbr.gov.ua.
Thus, between March 2023 and April 2024, 1,369 spruce and beech trees were illegally logged. The environmental damage is estimated at over 12 million UAH.
Photo: dbr.gov.ua.
Currently, all members of the group involved in the scheme are at risk of being sentenced to 10 years in prison.
3. In the Khmelnytsky region, an official of the Department of Aquatic Bioresources Protection “Fish Protection Patrol” of the State Agency of Melioration and Fisheries of Ukraine in the Khmelnytsky region will be brought to court. Instead of protecting them, he was illegally fishing in the Podilski Tovtry National Nature Park.
Photo: dbr.gov.ua.
In July 2024, the official and two accomplices caught about 1,000 fish with nets, including those listed in the Red Data Book of Ukraine. According to the State Ecological Inspectorate, the fishery and the state were damaged by nearly 7 million UAH. The poaching official now faces imprisonment for up to 6 years.
4. Environmental inspectors of the Southwestern District assessed damages of nearly 7 million UAH for contamination of land plots with construction and household waste on a total area of 7.25 hectares in the village of Fontanka, Odesa district.
5. In the Ternopil region, experts of the State Environmental Inspectorate recorded damages of over 8 million UAH for the illegal logging of 248 trees within the Zagrebellia Regional Landscape Park in the territory of the Bila rural council of the Ternopil district. They sent the inspection reports to the police.
6. Experts from the Central District Environmental Inspectorate estimated damages and filed a claim against the Medvedivka rural council for a sum of over 5 million UAH for the contamination of land with household waste within the Medvedivka community in Cherkasy region.
Read our previous digest for the period from March 8th to 14th for more information on the most significant environmental violations, including the 16 million UAH oil pollution of the Black Sea due to the negligence of a shipowner.
