Prosecutors of the Specialized Environmental Prosecutor's Office of the Office of the Prosecutor General have sent an indictment to the court regarding three employees of a company for the illegal extraction of locally significant minerals in large quantities (Part 4 of Article 240 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

The company, which is engaged in sand extraction and owns specialized equipment, provided services to another company and, during 2023, extracted sand from the Desna River in the Kyiv region within the boundaries of the Osechynske and Desnyanske-Upper deposits.

It has been established that in August 2023, the accused illegally extracted 8,000 tons of sand from the Desna River outside the Desnyanske-Upper deposit, based on compiled acts, loaded it onto barges, and transported it to a storage location in Kyiv.

Such actions caused environmental damage amounting to over 6 million UAH.

During the pre-trial investigation, representatives of the victim filed a civil lawsuit for the compensation of environmental damage within the criminal proceedings. Prosecutors, in order to secure the civil claim, imposed a lien on the property of the accused and the company that performed the work.

The pre-trial investigation in the criminal proceedings was conducted by the Main Investigative Department of the National Police of Ukraine with operational support from the Main Department for Countering Systemic Threats to State Management of the State Security Service of Ukraine.

Note: According to Article 62 of the Constitution of Ukraine, a person is presumed innocent of committing a crime and cannot be subjected to criminal punishment until their guilt is proven in a lawful manner and established by a guilty verdict of the court.