On the border of the Lviv and Transcarpathian regions, on the territory of the Nizhnevorotsk community, the first wind turbine from the Ostrovsky wind park, owned by the company “Wind Parks of Ukraine”, was installed.
Back in June 2022, it became known that companies involved in alternative energy sources had their eyes on the environmental and unique territories of the Carpathians.
Then environmentalists expressed their concerns, because such large-scale projects would have a very negative impact on the flora and fauna of the Verkhovinsky Dividing Range and the national parks that exist there. By the way, the most famous peak of the ridge is Mount Pikuy.
The head of the public organization “Save Pikuy” Natalya Vishnevskaya told “Espreso.Zakhid” whether the new turbine poses a threat to the environment and how, according to environmentalists, they have already managed to harm the “Wind Parks of Ukraine” in the Carpathians.
“As for the first windmill, we have no criticism here, because it is installed close to the highway and does not affect environmental areas. But the problem is that within the Nizhnevorotskaya community it is planned to install another 25 such wind turbines, and some of them are planned near the natural reserve fund,” comments Natalya.
Two criminal proceedings have been opened regarding the activities of “Wind Parks of Ukraine”
Natalya Vishnevskaya said that environmentalists themselves discovered significant violations by the Wind Parks of Ukraine and currently 2 criminal proceedings have been opened.
In particular, the ecologist says that this company built a new dirt road on the territory of the Privododolny reserve, on the site of a hiking trail, cut down and uprooted valuable trees - beeches, sycamores, spruces, and removed the soil cover. However, any logging is prohibited in the reserve, and especially the construction of roads.
“The valuable forest ecosystem has actually been damaged. Health and recreational forests, unique primary forests and old-growth forests are at risk. The tourist infrastructure has been completely destroyed - the official blue tourist walking route to Mount Kresty - Mount Rossypanets, which has been turned into a road suitable for vehicles,” states the environmentalists’ appeal to the prosecutor’s office.
In addition, environmentalists note that on the lands of the communal property of the Zhdenievo community, which are part of the Watershed Range, a road was laid with heavy equipment, alpine and subalpine vegetation was removed, the first horizon with turf was removed, blueberry trees were damaged, conditions were created for powerful erosion, landslides and planar washout of surface soils. waters, movement is open to jeeping, which is a direct violation of the Land Code of Ukraine and international environmental obligations of Ukraine.
And one more very important note: the lands of communal property, where the Management Company “Wind Parks of Ukraine” LLC began to operate, were provided for use according to the decision of the Zhdenievo village council with gross violations of land legislation - without cadastral numbers and reference to a specific territory, without a design project access roads for the installation of meteorological equipment and without any obligation to reclaim the sites and use environmentally friendly technologies.
As Natalya Vishnevskaya adds, based on these facts, two proceedings have now been opened - under Part 1 of Art. 239 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (Pollution or damage to land) and Part 1 of Art. 246 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (Illegal logging or illegal transportation, storage, sale of timber).
“But we suspect that these criminal proceedings are being deliberately delayed. “Ukrainian wind parks” caused irreparable harm to the mountainous landscape and natural reserves of Ukraine and violated a number of laws of Ukraine and international agreements, and in fact there was no reaction from law enforcement agencies,” says Natalya.
In addition to all this, a logical question arises: why should wind turbines be installed in such valuable and unique Carpathian territories, in the highlands and surrounded by a whole family of protected areas.
“In fact, massive construction will take place within the tourist recreational zone, surrounded by a natural reserve fund, which is reserved for the Emerald Network - areas of special environmental interest. There are other places that are not so unique,” adds Vishnevskaya.
“Two hundred hectares of concrete instead of alpine meadows”
“The second story that is now becoming public is the development of windmills in the Runa Valley. This is also the activity of “Wind Parks of Ukraine”. There are plans to build 30 wind turbines here. Apart from warnings that the valley could actually be abandoned, because 30 concrete foundations would remain there forever and the soil would be disturbed, no professional research was carried out. In addition, this mass of wind turbines will be installed in close proximity to the natural reserve,” explains Natalya Vishnevskaya.
As a scientist from the Institute of Zoology named after. I.I. Shmalhausen NAS of Ukraine Elena Godlevskaya in the podcast “Main Observatory”, the installation of wind turbines in the Runa meadow near the ornithological reserve “Falcon Rocks” will lead to a faunal disaster for bats.
Public hearings on this issue were held on February 6
“During the hearings, none of those present saw the actual detailed plan, all the diagrams and maps, the alternative location of 30 wind turbines, not a word about what comments the public provided to the detailed plan and strategic environmental assessment,” says Natalya - Conducting the hearings deliberately began to violate.”
The speech of the wind farm manager, according to her, boiled down to traditional promises to listen to society and take into account the position of people who are against concreting the valley, but he could not answer direct questions about the agenda of the hearings and the lack of documents that were to be discussed.
Ultimately, local residents supported the development of wind energy in the community, but subject to an alternative location. However, the developer was not satisfied with this compromise.
In general, such a meeting can be considered disrupted. As the organization “Save Pikuy” noted, during public hearings and the preparation of a detailed development plan for the Runa meadow, the following were violated (just think about how long the list is!):
- Law of Ukraine “On Strategic Environmental Assessment”
- Methodological recommendations of the Ministry of Natural Resources for the implementation of SEA
- Law of Ukraine “On the regulation of urban planning activities”
- Law of Ukraine “On the Natural Reserve Fund of Ukraine”
- Law of Ukraine “On the Red Book of Ukraine”
- Law of Ukraine “On Land Protection”
- Law of Ukraine “On the Ecological Network”
- International Convention for the Conservation of Wild Flora and Fauna and Natural Habitats in Europe (Bern Convention) – Runa Polonina is an object of the international Emerald Network “Poloninsky Ridge” N UA 0000610
- Framework Agreement on Sustainable Development of the Carpathians
- Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context (SEA Protocol)
- Territory planning scheme for the Transcarpathian region
- Regional development strategy of the Carpathians
- Strategic Environmental Assessment Report
- Regional list of protected species of subalpine fauna.
- Thousands of Transcarpathians are against development of the Carpathian highlands
In January, environmental activists submitted two appeals (one of them collective) to the Transcarpathian prosecutor’s office, along with 2,300 signatures of Transcarpathian residents to prevent the construction of wind turbines in the Carpathian highlands. In particular, we are talking about the Borzhava meadow, which they also want to destroy with wind complexes.
“This construction will change the familiar sharp outlines of the Transcarpathian peaks forever. At first they will simply be “cut off” by heavy equipment, and then what remains will eventually be washed away by the rains, leaving behind ragged erosion “wounds,” says the collective appeal of citizens, which could be supported thanks to a Google form.
As environmentalists add, interference with construction work in these ridges, which are important Carpathian watersheds, carries the risk of reducing water availability in the entire region. All rivers originating, for example, at the foot of the Borzhava or Vodorazdelny ridges are tributaries of the transboundary Tisza.
What is known about LLC “Management Company “Wind Parks of Ukraine”
This is a company that has been on the Ukrainian market for more than 12 years, and in 2022 it was relocated from Kramatorsk to Transcarpathia. According to YouControl, among the participants and founders of the company are the offshore Astrella Holdings Limited, Promaudit LLC (which has a direct connection with Maxim Efimov, a former people’s deputy from the Dovira group) and the final beneficiary – Eduard Mkrtchan.
“Wind Parks of Ukraine” are part of one influence group - the group of the Mkrtchan brothers, Eduard and Rafael, and have a connection, as is already obvious, with the group of Maxim Efimov, who resigned his mandate as a people’s deputy in December 2023. He was part of the “Trust” group of deputies, which consisted of some former people’s deputies from the now banned OPZZh party.
The father of the Mkrtchan brothers, Oleg, was previously the general director of one of the largest corporations in Ukraine - the Industrial Union of Donbass, where the chairman of the Board of Directors was the oligarch Sergei Taruta. By the way, half of the corporation's shares belonged to Russian investors.
