Prosecutors of the Specialized Environmental Prosecutor's Office of the Prosecutor General's Office filed the first indictment in the history of independent Ukraine on the fact of committing ecocide. This is reported to the OGP..

Article 441 of the Criminal Code is charged with two responsible persons of a large private enterprise in the Khmelnitsky region, which is engaged in the manufacture of cardboard and paper products (there is only one such object in the region - the Poninkovskaya cardboard and paper factory).

It is noted that law enforcement agencies received numerous complaints from the public about the mass death of flora and fauna in the river, which is a tributary of the Sluch River..

The investigation found that the head and foreman of the heat and water supply department of the economic society from October 2017 to January 2021 did not provide high-quality and comprehensive treatment of industrial effluents from pollutants.

In the course of production, they systematically and deliberately discharged polluted return waters into the river, including in excess of the maximum allowable concentration of toxic pollutants.. As a result of these actions, in a section of about 4 km from the place of discharge of return water, the living organisms of the bottom fauna were completely destroyed..

At the time of the engineering and environmental assessment, the state of the waters in the river was determined to be " Due to water pollution with chemicals, river flora and fauna have disappeared. Destroyed hydroecosystem. The case was investigated by investigators of the Main Investigation Department of the Security Service of Ukraine.