The forests of the "Hutsulshchyna" National Nature Park in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast have suffered from illegal logging on a massive scale. Over 200 hectares of forest have been destroyed there as a result of a conspiracy among forestry officials. Their case has already been referred to court.
This was reported by the Office of the Prosecutor General.
The suspects and the nature of the crime
The organizer of the scheme is a 45-year-old former forestry enterprise official who, at the time of the crime, held the position of acting head of the relevant department. As the investigation revealed, his colleagues—the acting director, the head of the enterprise liquidation commission, and a forestry engineer—were also involved in the conspiracy.
The forests were destroyed under the guise of thinning operations. To legalize these illegal actions, logging permits were used that had been issued in direct violation of current legislation. According to procedure, approved quotas from the Ministry of Economy and Environment, as well as a special permit from the environmental agency, were required to issue these documents. Of course, in this case, they were not obtained.
In total, those involved in the case issued 50 such permits over nine months in 2022. These documents served as the basis for logging more than 13,500 trees over an area exceeding 200 ha.
Unaware of the illegal nature of the actions, employees from several forest divisions – Kosiv, Yabluniv, Kosmach, Kutsk, and Bereziv – became executors of the crime.
Source: Office of the Prosecutor General
Legal liability
Four former forestry officials may face up to ten years in prison, with an additional three-year ban on holding relevant positions.
They are accused of illegal logging by prior conspiracy and with abuse of official authority. The former acting head of the relevant department faces an additional charge of organizing these violations of the law.
Source: Office of the Prosecutor General
Illegal logging remains one of the most widespread environmental crimes. At the same time, it is precisely the actions of forestry officials that inflict the greatest damage on Ukraine's environment. As EcoPolitic previously reported, according to the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI), during 2025, the estimated losses amounted to 546 million UAH.
