SUMMARY
Report on violations of Ukrainian legislation in the field of environmental protection and urban planning during the construction of wind farms in the highlands of the Ukrainian Carpathians Prepared by environmental and public organizations in Zakarpattia region, Ukraine
Key facts:
• Projects that violate the law: LLC “MC” “WIND PARKS OF UKRAINE” and its subsidiary LLC “Friendly Windtechnology” are implementing wind energy projects on seven of the twelve high mountain ranges of the Ukrainian Carpathians in violation of nature conservation and urban planning laws.
• Illegal construction zones: these projects are being implemented in areas covered by the Emerald Network, affecting primeval forests, protected natural areas, and habitats of species listed in the Red Book of Ukraine without legal basis and/or proper environmental impact assessments.
• Manipulation of the legislative framework: companies use a dubious scheme of fragmenting the project and dividing it into small sub-projects in order to circumvent the proper procedures, starting preparatory construction work before obtaining legal permits.
• Destruction of nature: roads and turbine foundations are being built in ecologically sensitive and geologically unstable high-altitude areas. To build a forest asphalt road to one of the mountain pastures, which is the site for the construction of a wind farm, logging was carried out in the primeval forest, which is prohibited by law.
• Corruption and collusion: regional authorities, state forestry enterprises and law enforcement agencies are complicit. They facilitate illegal logging, ignore violations, falsify documents and suppress investigations.
• Dishonesty: dozens of limited liability companies with minimal capital are registered to blur legal responsibility, conceal ownership and avoid accountability.
• Crackdown on environmental defenders: environmentalists, journalists and local activists face intimidation, cyberattacks, well-organized smear and defamation campaigns, workplace harassment and legal threats.
• Local community opposition: thousands of residents have signed petitions against the projects. Some citizens have been pressured or manipulated to change their position through economic coercion and intimidation.
The following report, prepared by experts from environmental NGOs based on two years of fieldwork, analysis of open sources and information from requests for access to public information, describes all of the above statements in detail.
Report on violations of environmental and urban planning legislation of Ukraine during the construction of wind farms on the higt altitudes of mountain ranges of the Ukrainian Carpathians LLC LLC “Management Company “Wind parks of Ukraime““, its subsidiary LLC “Friendly Windtechnology” and other legal entities of the businesee structure. Edition 2 / – Uzhhorod, 2025. – 24 p.
