The Obolon District Prosecutor's Office of Kyiv, following an appeal from the Kyiv Ecological and Cultural Center (KECC), opened criminal proceedings over the mass destruction of nature on the protected Obolon Island in Kyiv.
This was reported by members of the KECC on their Facebook page.
They said that Obolon Island is part of the Dnipro Islands Regional Landscape Park.
"During the construction of the Wave Bridge on the island, about 200 old trees and about 1,000 bushes were cut down illegally and or according to illegal documents, bat biotopes were destroyed (about 40 places), and fragments of wet and swampy meadows with an area of 5 hectares were destroyed. At the same time, the population of Siberian cockroaches, listed in the Red Book of Ukraine, was destroyed – about 100 plants," ecologists stated.
In addition, they recorded the complete destruction by bulldozers and other equipment of the soil layer on an area of about 14 hectares.
Experts estimated the damage caused to protected nature at 1.5 million hryvnias. They put all the responsibility for the violation of environmental protection legislation and the destruction of nature on KP "Pleso", which is the land user of Obolonsky Island.
KECC said that according to Ivan Parnikosa, a well-known scientist who studied the nature of Kyiv, Doctor of Biological Sciences, Obolonsky Island is the pearl of the regional landscape park "Dnieper Islands" and the cynical destruction of its unique nature can be compared to the destruction of the famous House with chimeras in Pechersk.
"Only the House with chimeras can be rebuilt, and it is no longer possible to return the unique wild nature of flood meadows to Obolonsky Island," the ecologists summarized.
As previously reported by EcoPolitics, Obolonsky Island has always been the object of increased attention. Yes, in August 2022 employees of NABU, SAP and KMDA prevented them illegal alienation into private property of Obolonsky Island with an area of 147.7 thousand square meters. m.
At the beginning of June, we reported that KECC ecologists discovered destruction on Obolonsky Island of one of the largest populations of red-listed plants in the capital – Siberian cockles. A few days later, EcoPolitics informed about what is happening on Obolonsky Island illegally demolished about 200 old trees and about 1000 bushes and planted young trees instead. In addition to green spaces, during the reconstruction, the builders destroyed the habitats of red-listed animals and completely destroyed the soil layer on an area of about 14 hectares.
At the beginning of July, Ekopolitika reported that KECC eco-activists said about his intention to achieve the closure of Kyiv CP "Pleso".