EcoPolitic has compiled for its readers the top 10 large-scale cases of environmental damage reported by the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI), the press services of prosecutors, and the State Environmental Inspectorate of Ukraine and its units during the week of April 26-May 2.
1. Police in Odesa region, following a complaint from the head of the Stryukivska united territorial community, conducted an inspection, documented the offense, and charged a 44-year-old local resident. He had illegally dug a lake for fish farming on the lands of the water fund behind one of the community's villages. To do this, the man rented an excavator and hired an employee, whom he assured that he had legal grounds to carry out the work.
In this way, the defendant seized the surface layer of the water fund lands with a volume of 8652 m3 and created an artificial water body with a total area of 0.3051 hectares.
The investigation into this case has now been completed. The police have referred it to court. The offender faces up to 3 years in prison.
2. The SBI, together with the SBU, completed a pre-trial investigation into a criminal group that included officials of the Kutske Forestry in Ivano-Frankivsk region.
The illegal scheme was organized by the director of the forestry. The official involved the head and engineer of one of the company's departments, as well as the head of the liquidation commission. Together, they illegally issued logging tickets for selective logging in the Hutsulshchyna National Nature Park, under the guise of allegedly “rehabilitating” and “shaping” forests.
According to the law, such logging within the nature reserve fund is allowed only with the approval of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine and the regional military administration. The defendants did not receive such approvals.
As a result, from March 2022 to March 2023, the national park lost more than 1,700 trees of various species. The environmental damage from these illegal logging operations exceeded UAH 257 million.
All 4 defendants are charged with abuse of power and illegal logging and sale of timber committed as part of an organized criminal group (Part 4 of Article 246, Part 3 of Article 365 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). They face up to 10 years in prison.
Photo: ifr.gp.gov.ua.
To compensate for the damage, a lawsuit was filed for the full amount of losses. The defendants' property was seized for a total of over UAH 8.35 million.
Last September, EcoPolitics already reported on the exposure of another organized criminal group of officials of the Kutske Forestry State Enterprise, who had been engaged in illegal logging in the same Hutsulshchyna National Park since 2018.
3. In Kharkiv region, police exposed “black loggers” who illegally cut down 200 trees worth almost UAH 1.6 million. The “business” of selling firewood for heating was organized by a 46-year-old resident of Maksymivka village, Bohodukhiv district. The offender involved two acquaintances, men aged 31 and 35.
Photo: khar.gp.gov.ua.
Since May 2024, they have been using chainsaws to cut down damp and dead trees in forest protection plantations in the Bohodukhiv district. The wood was immediately delivered to buyers, and the “income” was distributed among themselves.
Photo: khar.gp.gov.ua.
4. In Ivano-Frankivsk region, the head of one of the garden societies of Prykarpattia will be tried for illegal logging. Without a special permit, he organized the illegal felling of 11 trees of different species on the lands of the Galician National Nature Park.
By his illegal actions, the defendant caused environmental damage totaling more than UAH 1.6 million.
5. The director of a company in Kropyvnytskyi district, which illegally extracted gneiss on the territory of the Subotsivske deposit, will be brought to court. By his actions, the official caused UAH 24.5 million in damage to the environment. He now faces imprisonment for up to 3 years.
6. Prosecutors of the Kosiv District Prosecutor's Office served a notice of suspicion to a 37-year-old resident of Verkhovyna for illegally cutting down 14 spruce trees in the Carpathian National Nature Park in March of this year. The amount of damage he caused to the environment exceeds UAH 1.2 million.
7. In Kirovohrad region, prosecutors served a notice of suspicion to the director of a municipal enterprise in Kropyvnytskyi, which has a security obligation to preserve the Peremoha Park, a local landscape gardening monument. He damaged 600 square meters of the park's lawn during the construction of a residential complex. The environmental damage amounted to UAH 1.7 million.
8. In Poltava region, environmental inspectors of the Central District calculated more than UAH 1.3 million in damages caused by a poacher during the spawning season. They sent the case file to the police.
9. In Sumy region, SEI representatives also documented illegal crayfish fishing near a pond in the village of Lebedyny Bobryk, Sumy district. The citizen caused losses of UAH 1.2 million by his actions.
10. In the Chernivtsi region, inspectors of the Carpathian District calculated damages in the amount of UAH 1 million for the death of aquatic bioresources in the Sovytsia River within the village of Luzhany, Chernivtsi district. They handed over the case file to the police.
Read about the violations recorded by police and environmental inspectors between April 19 and 25 in the previous EcoPolitic digest.
