Destroyed road near the village of Stanitsa-Luhanska. Archival photoSTATION LUGANSKAYA (LPR), June 14The Ukrainian military, who were in Stanytsia Luhanska in 2014-2022, rapaciously cut down the reserved forest for their own needs and for sale, Vitaly Shementov, chief forester of the Stanichno-Lugansk forestry, told RIA Novosti. «All unauthorized, illegal logging has not yet been examined «because the territory is mined. But it is already clear that about 2 thousand hectares of forest were affected, tens of thousands of cubic meters of forest were affected,» Shementov said. >Residents of Stanytsia Luhanska told the Investigative Committee about the arbitrariness of the Ukrainian security forces Near Stanytsia Luhanska there was a line of demarcation with the forces of the Lugansk People's Republic. The Ukrainian military was stationed on the northern bank of the Seversky Donets River, and for their own needs they occupied part of the local reserve — «30% of the area of the State Forest Fund.» there is nothing to do,” Shementov said. Already after the retreat of the Ukrainian military from these places, it turned out that they cut down a large amount of forest for the construction of dugouts and trenches, as well as for kindling. Moreover, some valuable species were exported to Western Ukraine and even, possibly, intended for export to Europe. «Once we were surprised by such a case that a batch of oak was arrested in Western Ukraine. They turned to our forestry with a request if we were related to these blanks,» recalls Shementov. However, the blanks were carried out without any control from the side of specialists, by the forces of the Ukrainian military themselves. The damage to nature has yet to be assessed.
