Russian forces massively cut round timber in Ukraine, transport it to Russia

Ukraine's Deputy Minister of Defense Hanna Maliar reported this. 

“Since the beginning of the occupation, Russian companies have organized logging in the Zaporizhzhia, Kherson and other temporarily occupied regions of Ukraine. At the same time, entrepreneurs are carrying out uncontrolled barbaric deforestation, which, if continued, will inevitably lead to catastrophic consequences for the environment,” the official said.

“Most of the forests in this region are of artificial origin, and they were specially created to protect against wind, soil, and water erosion, serving as recreational and forest reclamation plantations,” she explained.

According to Maliar, at the end of March, convoys of Russian trucks with freshly cut logs were spotted moving near Mariupol, Donetsk region.

• Earlier, the State Environmental Inspectorate reported that since February 2022, the Russian Federation has destroyed almost 60,000 hectares of forests in Ukraine. Some of them will take decades to restore, and some have been lost forever.