27.06.2025 Ecology

Hrynchuk leaves, corruption remains: how oligarchs and the Ministry of Environment affect the environment and plunder Ukraine’s subsoil

Світлана Гринчук - Рада призначила міністра захисту довкілля та природних ресурсів — УНІАН

Svitlana Hrynchuk, the Minister of Environmental Protection, is likely not to join the new Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. Her tenure has been marked by numerous scandals, failures in key environmental reforms, and corruption allegations. According to UNN, which interviewed leading Ukrainian environmentalists, the ministry under Hrynchuk’s leadership has failed to fulfill any of its key tasks. Lack of progress in reforms, non-transparent personnel policy, and neglect of environmental issues have become symbols of her work.

But was it just incompetence, or was it part of a wider corruption system that encompassed the Ministry of Environment, the State Service of Geology and Mineral Resources, and even the Chornobyl zone?

The main questions about Hrynchuk’s work

The Ministry under Hrynchuk’s leadership has failed to launch an automated environmental monitoring system that could have made it easier to collect reparations from Russia in international courts for environmental damage. Environmentalists point out that this is not just a technical delay, but a deliberate inhibition that allows avoiding responsibility for violations.

The reform of the waste management system has also remained on paper. Electronic waste accounting has not yet been created, and the bylaw that would regulate this process is “still under development.” Hrynchuk promised to reform environmental control, but no steps have been taken in this direction. Concepts for biodiversity protection, development of protected areas, and environmental education have not been developed or approved.

In addition, the Ministry ignored glaring environmental problems, such as illegal deforestation in Zakarpattia or the threat of pollution of the Psel River. Instead of dialoguing with animal rights activists, Hrynchuk filed complaints against them with law enforcement agencies, which only increased tensions in society. Environmentalists call her work “imitation” when real actions are replaced by loud statements.

Hrynchuk’s personnel policy has also caused outrage. For example, the head of the Department for Specially Protected Natural Areas was appointed a person who had previously worked in the employment service, without proper experience in the environment. This is just one example of the lack of transparency and possible corruption in appointments.

Corruption octopus in subsoil use: oligarchs and the State Service of Geology and Mineral Resources

The State Service of Geology and Subsoil, which is subordinated to the Ministry of Environment, has become a “black cash register” for officials and security forces. Although the service declares transparency through auctions on ProZorro, the reality is different: the auctions are pre-programmed in favor of the “right” companies. Bureaucratic obstacles in the process of obtaining special permits make it impossible to have fair access to subsoil without “rishalov”. As a result, a significant part of Ukraine’s oil and gas resources is under the control of financial and industrial groups linked to oligarchs and even Russia.

For example, the Sakhalin gas field in Kharkiv region, with resources of more than 15 billion cubic meters of gas, could fill the Ukrainian budget. Instead, production is controlled by private entities, such as Ukrnaftoburinnya, associated with Kolomoisky, Boholyubov, and Khomutynnik. This company has an offshore registration (JKX Ukraine B.V., DERIPON COMMERCIAL LTD, ARES SYSTEMS LTD, ARIANA BUSINESS LIMITED), which allows it to withdraw profits abroad, avoiding taxation in Ukraine.

Corruption in the energy sector and the Chornobyl zone

Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko and Svitlana Hrynchuk were involved in a corruption scheme worth almost 2 billion hryvnias. The Structum company received UAH 1 billion (60% of the prepayment) for the reconstruction of the Chornobyl-Slavutych line, which was supposed to ensure reliable electricity supply from the nuclear power plant. However, the work was not completed.

The former head of the SAUEZM, Tymchuk, ordered his subordinate enterprises, including Pushcha Roscha and the Chornobyl Reserve, not to prepare forestry documentation, which allowed him to shift the blame for the failure to fulfill the contract to them, not to Structum or Ukrenergo. The new head of the SAUEZM, Ishchenko, has not only failed to stop these schemes, but also plans to make money from tenders for logging under power lines by appropriating the fallen forest.

The SAUEZM is also involved in other scandals: illegal logging, overpricing of equipment, fuel theft, export of radioactive materials, and illegal use of radioactive land. All of this took place under the cover of the Ministry of Environment.

Destruction of a park in Kharkiv region for the sake of oil and gas

In 2021, it was planned to create a unique landscape park “Smaragdove Dzherelo” in the Kharkiv region. The project was approved, the community raised funds, and environmentalists confirmed the uniqueness of the territory. However, Nereta, the director of the Ecology Department of the Kharkiv Regional State Administration, blocked the implementation of the ministry’s and courts’ decisions for four years. Instead of a park, the territory was given to Naftogazrozrabotka, a company associated with Rinat Akhmetov, for oil and gas production.

Production permits were issued without auctions and taxes, which led to the destruction of nature, oil emissions, and the loss of the park. Nereta, who is linked to the Monaco Battalion group, controls resources, deforestation, and budgetary flows in the region. In 2021, the court canceled his environmental conclusion as illegal, but in 2025, Naftogazrozrabotka received the permit again.

Neither the management of the Kharkiv Regional State Administration nor Svitlana Hrynchuk respond to these violations. Law enforcement agencies also do not take action, which allows oligarchs to continue production, ignoring the environmental disaster. For the officials, the ecology of Kharkiv region has become only a source of enrichment.

Is Hrynchuk’s resignation a chance for cleansing or another imitation of reforms?

Svitlana Hrynchuk’s resignation was a logical outcome of her work, which was characterized by the failure of reforms, corruption scandals and disregard for environmental issues. The corruption schemes that permeate the Ministry of Environment, the State Service of Geology and Mineral Resources and the Chornobyl zone demonstrate the systemic nature of the problem. Illegal deforestation, overpriced tenders, and illegal oil and gas extraction are all taking place with the tacit consent of the authorities. Hrynchuk’s resignation may be a chance to clean up the system, but without real sanctions against all those involved and systemic changes in the work of the Ministry of Environment and the State Service of Geology and Mineral Resources, it will remain just another imitation of reforms.

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