Criminal liability for the destruction or damage of flora

The article analyses the issues of criminal liability in Ukraine for destruction or damage to flora. According to the current Criminal Code of Ukraine, liability for this criminal offence is established by Article 245 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The article emphasises that Russia’s full­scale invasion of Ukraine has led to massive and systematic destruction of, and damage to, flora and fauna, and has become a serious problem that has caused and continues to cause significant environmental damage. The environmental damage caused during armed conflicts will continue to affect the state of ecosystems and natural resources long after they end. The author notes that no country in the world has ever investigated war crimes against the environment on the scale of our state. Based on the results of the analysis, the author of the article concludes that legislative and law enforcement shortcomings pose the risk of significant deterioration of the environment both in the territory controlled by Ukraine and in the uncontrolled territories. At the same time, the draft Criminal Code in its current version does not in any way address the problem of the lack of differentiation of liability for intentional and negligent destruction of flora, which indicates an urgent need to improve the relevant draft provisions of the new Criminal Code of Ukraine.In addition, the interaction of state authorities with environmental and human rights organisations in assessing environmental damage, monitoring the state of the environment, etc. is still unsatisfactory. Civil society, citizens, and the legal community do not yet pay due attention to environmental criminal offences, mostly perceiving them as secondary. At the same time, we believe that timely and correct consideration by the courts of criminal offences under Article 245 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine is an important means of protecting the right of citizens to a safe environment guaranteed by the Constitution.