The Russians are stealing forest from the occupied territories

After the invasion of Ukraine, Russia exported not only grain from the occupied territories, according to Ukrainian officials, they also took wood by cutting down the forest.

Forests are cut down for commercial gain or to strengthen defensive positions without compensation. The publication published pictures by the aerospace company Maxar Technologies, showing the Taurian Forest in the Kherson region a month after the Russian invasion and below in January after the trees were cut down.

British forestry consultant Andrew Heald said the photos showed loggers concentrated on certain areas with potentially more valuable timber species, including oak and pine, rather than simply cutting down the entire forest.

The State Bureau of Investigation of Ukraine announced that it is investigating the expropriation of wood by Russian troops. The State Forestry Agency of Ukraine reported separately that Russians and those working with them, including Kremlin proteges, are sporadically cutting down forests in various regions of the country.

In March 2022, a few days after the Russian invasion, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu wrote a letter to President Vladimir Putin requesting permission to harvest timber during a “military operation”. The letter states that wood not used for defense will be sold to finance the war.

The State Forestry Agency said it found examples of illegal logging in the Kyiv region and the northern regions of Sumy and Kharkiv regions, which were occupied by Russia at the beginning of the invasion. Among the trees removed are oak, pine, hornbeam and ash, the report says. Such wood has many uses, including construction and furniture production.

The agency said it was difficult to determine the extent of illegal logging in liberated parts of the country, as some forests were littered with landmines and munitions.

Since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion of ecology, Ukraine has suffered losses of 1 trillion hryvnias, which is almost €36 billion. In total, 2,000 cases of environmental damage have been documented. This was said in October by the Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine, Ruslan Strilets.

As a result of hostilities in Ukraine, about a third of the country’s forest plantations were destroyed or significantly damaged, 450,000 hectares of forests are under Russian occupation. 2.45 million hectares of forest plantations have been released so far, but they have been “burned and dug up with trenches” and “decades are needed” for their restoration, he noted.