A new investigation by Ukraine’s Specialised Environmental Prosecutor’s Office has revealed a widespread illegal deforestation operation involving key personnel from the Forestry Innovation and Analytical Centre (LIAC) and the state-owned Forests of Ukraine. Prosecutors say the scheme caused environmental and economic damages of more than UAH 167 million ($4.1 million USD).
According to Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko, the network’s centrepiece was systemic manipulation of Ukraine’s timber registry. Investigators allege that a LIAC employee altered records in the Unified State Electronic Timber Accounting System at the request of Forests of Ukraine staff: “An employee of LIAC, at the request of employees of the Forests of Ukraine, changed information… deleted documents on the origin of wood, understated its volume, and changed the quality class,” Kravchenko said.
Wood Central understands that authorities documented more than 10,000 instances of falsified data between 2021 and 2024, with each change costing between UAH 5,000 and 30,000 ($120–$720 USD), and generating over UAH 10 million ($240,000 USD) in illegal profits. The majority of violations took place in the Volyn, Rivne, Zhytomyr, and Kyiv regions.
The crackdown has resulted in 40 formal suspicions in recent weeks. Eight employees of LIAC and five from Forests of Ukraine have been charged. Law enforcement conducted 50 searches and detained the scheme’s organiser along with three alleged accomplices.
Among the 40 cases:
- Twenty-one target staff from Forests of Ukraine
- Two defendants were arrested
- Courts imposed preventive measures on:
- The Director General of Forests of Ukraine for alleged illegal enrichment
- The former director of Kostopil Forestry is under investigation for suspected enrichment and false property declarations
Additional charges were filed in connection with direct deforestation:
- The director and engineer of Turiysky Forestry allegedly cut down 409 trees illegally
- A forester from Svydovetske Forestry is accused of authorising logging in a protected reserve
- The director of Dniprovske Forestry was charged with negligence that led to forest destruction in a landscape park
- An employee of Grozynske Forestry and an LLC executive were implicated in unauthorised logging in Zhytomyr
- Four directors from the Lviv region allegedly issued permits to fell over 9,500 trees
- A forester from Lazeshchyna Forestry Department is accused of aiding the felling of nearly 3,400 trees
In 2025 alone, prosecutors filed over 300 lawsuits seeking to reclaim 7,511 hectares of forest land. As of this reporting, 175 hectares have been returned to state control. Total damages this year from illegal logging are estimated at UAH 351 million ($8.4 million USD). The operation marks one of the most significant anti-corruption efforts to date within Ukraine’s forestry sector, as prosecutors aim to restore accountability and safeguard public environmental resources.
- To find out why Ukraine is a “low-risk country” under the European Union’s deforestation regulation, click here to read Wood Central’s special feature.
