EcoPolitic has collected the 5 most significant cases of environmental damage that were made public during the week of April 12-17. The information was published by the press services of prosecutor's offices, as well as the State Environmental Inspectorate of Ukraine and its subdivisions.
1. In Lvivshchyna, prosecutors reported suspicions to the head of a municipal enterprise and an entrepreneur. The former is charged with official negligence and the latter with polluting land with substances, waste or other materials harmful to the environment.
According to the investigation, one of the communal enterprises of Stryyshchina and an individual entrepreneur concluded a number of agreements on the provision of services for the maintenance of the dump. But the entrepreneur violated the terms of the contract: in the period from September 2020 to November 2024, he dumped solid domestic waste outside the landfill – on adjacent land plots.
The deputy head of the communal enterprise did not control the conditions of fulfillment of the contracts. In particular, he did not initiate the preparation of the project of landfill operation and waste storage according to such a project, did not take measures to establish the boundaries of the landfill.
The expert examination found that the defendants caused damage to the environment for more than UAH 57 million.
Now the head of the utility company has been suspended from his position, his property has been seized. Prosecutors are also preparing a petition to seize the property of the entrepreneur.
2. Last week, another official was suspected of polluting land – the director of one of the municipal enterprises in Kropivnitsky district, which provides services for the removal of solid domestic waste.
It turned out that in the period from November 2023 to March 2024, the enterprise polluted an adjacent land plot with an area of more than 3.5 thousand square meters. meters. The expert examination established the presence of ammonium, nitrates, sulfates, chlorides and other hazardous substances in the soil.
3. Two employees of Cherkassy fish protection patrol were caught poaching. They, as well as their civilian accomplice, were informed of suspicions.
The investigation established that during 2024 the employees of the department of protection of aquatic bioresources with the help of civilians were poaching in the water area of the Kremenchug reservoir.
They caught fish for a total amount of about half a million hryvnias and disposed of it at their discretion, in particular, sold it for cash.
Now the suspects are choosing measures of restraint.
4. In Volyn, environmental inspectors found illegal cutting of trees in the tract of Dubki near the village of Toboly in Kamen-Kashirsky district. They recorded 341 stumps of illegally felled trees of different species: alder, pine, birch, spruce, oak, aspen. The total amount of losses is more than 2.6 million UAH.
Photo: facebook.com/volyn.dei.
5. In Kirovogradshchina for illegal felling of trees will be tried the chairman of one of the garden associations of Zolotonoshsky district. Investigators found out that he three times – 02.12.2023, 13.01.2024 and 20.02.2024 verbally ordered to cut down trees, which are not in the possession and use of the society and border with the territory of Denhiv forestry branch “Zolotonosha forestry” SE “Forests of Ukraine”. On the same day the defendant signed and stamped the permit for transportation of illegally felled trees.
By his illegal actions the suspect caused damage in the amount of almost 800 thousand UAH.
If the offender's guilt is proved, he faces a fine from 68 thousand UAH to 102 thousand UAH or arrest for up to 6 months, or imprisonment for 3 to 6 years with deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities for up to 3 years.
Read about the 10 most significant cases of environmental damage from April 5 to 11 in the previous EcoPolitic digest.
