A Crime of Ecocide in Ukrainian Police Statistics

In addition to environmental crimes committed by Ukrainian citizens, attention should be paid to the crime of ecocide (Article 441 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine), for which liability is provided for in the relevant section (Criminal offences against peace, security of humanity, and international legal order).

The crime of ecocide itself appeared in Ukrainian criminal statistics in 2016, when Russia occupied the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

In 2013, 2014, and 2015, no crimes of ecocide were recorded at all, at least according to the statistics provided by the Office of the Prosecutor General.

In 2016, one crime of ecocide was recorded for the first time.

Subsequently, the following number of ecocide crimes were registered: 3 crimes in 2017, 2 crimes in 2018, 8 crimes in 2019, 6 crimes in 2020, 2 crimes in 2021, 15 crimes in 2022, 7 crimes in 2023, and 1 crime in 2024.

No crimes of ecocide were registered in the first six months of 2025.

Thus, between 1 January 2013 and 30 June 2025, 45 crimes of ecocide were registered in Ukraine, 51% of which were registered during Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Unfortunately, however, no one has been charged, and therefore no Ukrainian court has handed down a verdict under this article.