The crimes committed by forestry officials and their accomplices have caused the greatest damage to the environment this week. Meanwhile, poachers are not far behind, and the public prosecutor’s office has been forced to take legal action to protect a nature reserve from being designated as a hunting ground.
EcoPolitiс reports on the main environmental crimes of the week from 10 to 16 October. The information for these reports was obtained from public sources – publications by the Office of the Prosecutor General and regional public prosecutors’ offices, the State Bureau of Investigations, and the State Environmental Inspectorate.
Forest matters
A scheme to destroy around 2,000 pine trees, causing environmental damage amounting to over 15 million hryvnias, has been uncovered in Volyn. The operation involved the owner of a sawmill, a driver and four officials from the forestry departments of the ‘Polessky Forest Office’ branch of the state-owned enterprise ‘Forests of Ukraine’. The criminals had been operating since 2025. According to the investigation, the organiser and coordinator was a businessman; the officials provided information on logging operations and facilitated the removal of timber, whilst the driver arranged for the transport and the replacement of tags on legally felled timber. The regional prosecutor’s office clarified that the case involves four forest rangers from the Manevychi Forest District.
The State Bureau of Investigation (GBR) provided information on this special operation as part of Operation ‘Green Shield’, which is aimed at combating corruption in the forestry sector. According to preliminary findings, 11 people have been arrested in connection with the cases, whilst a further 23 have been served with notices of suspicion. The preliminary estimate of the losses resulting from these offences amounts to almost 66 million hryvnias. For more details, see this article by EcoPolitika.
As is often the case, the state-owned enterprise ‘Forests of Ukraine’ is once again forced to pay for the negligence of its staff. In the Dnipropetrovsk region, a court has ordered the enterprise to pay 4.8 million UAH in compensation for damage caused by illegal logging on the territory of the Znamensky Forest District. In the Zakarpattia region, the state-owned enterprise has already reimbursed more than 1.2 million hryvnias for illegal logging in the Hrunivskyi Forest District. The public prosecutor’s office has accused officials of dereliction of duty.
A scheme involving the sale of timber at below-market prices was operating in the Sumy region. The state lost out on nearly 9.2 million hryvnias. Just one year after being appointed director of one of the regional forestry enterprises, he organised the sale of timber outside licensed commodity exchanges at prices below market value. The indictment against the official has been sent to court.
Animal welfare
Foresters are causing harm not only to plants but also to animals. In the Lviv region, land within the ‘Morshyn’ nature reserve – which was intended to protect flora and fauna – has suddenly been turned into hunting grounds. The Public Prosecutor’s Office secured a court ruling to have 2,300 hectares of protected areas excluded from those where animals may be killed. Consequently, the state enterprise ‘Forests of Ukraine’ is obliged to completely cease the use of these protected lands for hunting activities.
In Kharkiv, law enforcement officers are investigating the brutal killing of a pet cat. The owner let the cat out for a walk and later found its body with injuries. The individuals involved in the offence are currently being identified.
Environmental pollution
An official from the ‘Kyivpastrans’ municipal enterprise is to stand trial for the deliberate damage to a site forming part of the nature reserve fund – the ‘Almazne’ Lake landscape reserve. According to the investigation, the treatment systems on the vehicle depot’s premises had not been properly maintained for several years. As a result, hazardous substances, in particular petroleum products, entered the protected lake.
Источник: Киевская прокуратура
Poaching
In the protected ‘Tuzlovski Limans’ in the Odesa region, environmental inspectors discovered a poacher who was fishing illegally. The catch consisted of nearly 190 singil mullet. The damage to the environment exceeded 3 million hryvnias. Without a licence, the man was also fishing using prohibited gear – a net.
A round-up of crimes against nature over the past week can be found at this link.
