EcoPolitic has compiled for its readers the five most significant cases of environmental damage reported by the press services of the prosecutor's office, the territorial bodies of the State Environmental Inspection (SEI), and the State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” during the week of July 5-11.
1. SEI eco-inspectors in the Volyn region recorded the illegal felling of 1,355 trees of various species (alder, birch, aspen, hornbeam, oak) outside the village of Krasnovolia in the Lutsk district on land owned by the Kolkivska village council. A report of this violation was received from a citizen through the EcoThreat service.
Collage: t.me/deionline.
The identities of the offenders have not yet been established.
The total amount of damage caused to the environment reached almost UAH 13.7 million.
2. In Vinnytsia region, a local farmer cut down 399 trees of various species on the territory of the Illinets Forestry to increase the area of agricultural land. Most of the trees were up to 50 years old.
Photo: t.me/forestsofukraine.
The illegal felling was discovered by employees of the Haisyn Forestry, a branch of the Central Forest Office, together with the Security Department of the State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine.” The police were called to the scene and opened a criminal case under Part 4 of Article 246 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The damage to the forestry industry is estimated at UAH 1.2 million.
3. In Lviv region, a court ordered a company to compensate more than UAH 16 million in damages caused by the illegal extraction of 30,000 m³ of sand on the territory of the forestry.
The company, which is engaged in the extraction of sand, gravel, clay, and kaolin, leased a plot of land within the Mykolaiv community. However, it carried out extraction not only on the leased plot, but also beyond its boundaries. To do this, the company arbitrarily occupied 0.2 hectares of forest fund land.
4. In Volyn, members of an organized criminal group, which included a forest master from one of the forestries of the Volyn Military Forestry Enterprise, are on trial. The investigation established that in October 2024, during selective sanitary felling, the forester obtained timber that was not specified in the logging ticket and squandered it for the benefit of one of his accomplices.
Earlier, from June to October 2024, he and three accomplices illegally cut down trees in the forest four times and ensured their transportation and sale to an illegal sawmill in Karpyliivka.
Collage: vol.gp.gov.ua.
In total, the “black loggers” destroyed almost 1,000 pine and birch trees, cut them into logs, and delivered them for processing and subsequent sale. They caused damage to the state amounting to almost UAH 6 million.
5. In Chernihiv region, prosecutors from the Specialized Environmental Prosecutor's Office sent an indictment to court against a forester from one of the forestries in the Kozelets district for official negligence. In November 2023, he received a special permit to carry out logging and forest restoration on an area of over 9 hectares. However, due to the official's negligence, 86 pine trees located in the territory of the Mizhrichensky Regional Landscape Park in the quarters under his jurisdiction were cut down.
This caused damage amounting to over UAH 13 million. Now the forester faces imprisonment for a term of 2 to 5 years with deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities for a term of up to 3 years, with or without a fine.
Read about the most high-profile environmental violations from June 21 to 27 in our previous digest.
