Corruption and other systemic violations at the State Enterprise "Forests of Ukraine" are under the scrutiny of the State Bureau of Investigation, in particular cases where officials sell "permits" for the destruction of trees for money.
Employees of the State Bureau of Investigation detained and notified the forest master of the Kramatorsk Forestry of suspicion. He took money for facilitating the illegal harvesting of timber.
In one of the documented episodes, in December 2025, the official refused to allow a local resident to legally purchase firewood for heating.
Instead, he offered "another option" — to harvest dry wood on the territory of the Kramatorsk Regional Landscape Park without permission.
For this, the forest master demanded 10,000 hryvnias for each day of logging. After receiving the first 50,000 hryvnias, he offered to increase the volume of harvesting and raised the payment to 20,000 hryvnias per day.
In February 2026, SBI employees detained the official while he was receiving 100,000 hryvnias in illegal benefits.
Investigators are currently verifying information about other possible cases of receiving money from various individuals using a similar scheme.
The forest manager was notified of suspicion under Part 3 of Article 368 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine — receiving illegal benefits combined with extortion.
The article provides for up to 10 years of imprisonment with confiscation of property.
The pre-trial investigation is ongoing.
The Donetsk Regional Prosecutor's Office is in charge of the proceedings.
According to information from the State Bureau of Investigations