The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has launched an investigation under the ecocide article of the Criminal Code of Ukraine into causes for destructive flooding in western regions of the country in order to establish all circumstances which might have been influenced by activity or inactivity of officials, the Department of the SBU in Ivano-Frankivsk region said.
“The special service officers have registered a massive plant destruction, which probably could have caused an environmental disaster. The service has sent to the prosecutor’s office the files on illegal felling of timber, improper forestry management and non-fulfillment of environmental protection measures by officials in the western regions of Ukraine,” the SBU department said on its Facebook page.
According to the official information, extraordinary precipitation was registered in June, as a result of which people died and more than 10,000 houses were flooded, more than 700 kilometers of roads and 200 bridges were destroyed and damaged, more than 4,000 meters of bank protection structures were destroyed in the territory of Prykarpattia alone.
The Prosecutor’s Office of Ivano-Frankivsk region opened a criminal case under Article 441 (ecocide) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
