The state-owned enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” plans to establish over 30,000 km of firebreaks in preparation for the 2026 fire season, the enterprise announced on Facebook.
According to the report, the work is carried out twice a year—in the spring and early fall. Foresters pay particular attention to protecting young coniferous trees, as well as areas along railways and highways.
To carry out this work, the state-owned enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” plans to purchase over 100 cultivators, disc harrows, and 42 special forest plows in 2026 to replace outdated equipment.
The total length of the firebreak network within the state forest fund is 140,000 km. Throughout the fire-hazardous season, the enterprise ensures regular maintenance of these firebreaks, including the removal of dry vegetation and debris to maintain their barrier function.
As reported, the state-owned enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” recorded the first forest fires in the Zakarpattia, Lviv, and Volyn regions in March of this year. The main causes of the incidents were the burning of dry grass in areas bordering the forest fund. The State Forest Guard has already switched to an enhanced patrol regime.
“Forests of Ukraine” reminded the public that burning dry vegetation is punishable by fines ranging from 3,060 UAH to 150,000 UAH, and in some cases carries criminal liability.
The state-owned enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” has put more than 1.5 million cubic meters of timber products up for auction as part of the main bidding for the second quarter of 2026, which is 250,000 cubic meters, or 20%, more than usual volumes, the state-owned enterprise’s press service reported on Facebook.
According to the report, starting prices are set at the level of the first quarter of 2026 (+8% relative to the consumer price index) and are significantly lower than selling prices. In most regions, with the exception of Volyn and the Carpathians, the auctions have already taken place. Preliminary results indicate that 100% of both commercial timber and firewood for industrial use (FI) has been contracted.
The state-owned enterprise noted that the average price of firewood increased by 73% compared to the starting price, reaching 2,520 UAH/cubic meter, while the price of commercial timber rose by 26%, reaching 6,500 UAH/cubic meter. Overall, across all product types, the average price increased by 31%, to 5,200 UAH/cubic meter.
“Timber has been getting more expensive every quarter since the second half of 2024. Finally, the trend has paused. The price settled above the starting price but below the current one. In effect, there has been a price adjustment for round timber to the level of the third and fourth quarters of 2025,“ reported ”Forests of Ukraine.”
The price adjustment affected the fulfillment of first-quarter contracts: despite the availability of harvested products, some consumers declined to purchase them. In such cases, “Forests of Ukraine” uses Dutch auctions with price reductions. Over 100,000 cubic meters of round pine have already been listed for sale.
Overall, since the beginning of the year, harvesting has increased by 29% compared to the same period in 2025, but sales volume has increased by only 3%.
“At meetings and conferences, the market cited a shortage of resources and unused capacity, but in reality, it did not respond to the increase in the supply of commercial timber. As a result, there is a surplus of resources and a significant increase in warehouse inventories,” the report notes.
The imbalance applies only to commercial timber, while consumers of industrial firewood are purchasing the full volume (sales breakdown: 40% roundwood, 60% firewood).
To reduce inventory, the company plans to adjust its harvesting strategy: priority will be given to thinning and forest restoration operations that yield more firewood. Currently, the average daily harvesting volume is 45,000 cubic meters.
Since the beginning of 2026, the state-owned enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” has registered property rights to 1,600 hectares of natural forests and reserve lands for forestry purposes, the press service of the state-owned enterprise reported on its Telegram channel.
According to the report, these are self-forested areas that previously belonged to communities or local administrations but did not have official status and were not in use.
The largest areas of land were registered by the branches of the Polissya Forest Office (611 hectares in Rivne region) and the Central Forest Office (681 hectares in Cherkasy region).
“In the first two months of the year, the company submitted applications for another 4,700 hectares, of which more than 2,000 hectares have already received positive decisions,” the State Forestry Agency of Ukraine clarified.
The state-owned enterprise reminded that after the approval of land management documentation, the plots are transferred to the enterprise for permanent use with the corresponding registration of rights.
As reported, Ukraine has about 2 million hectares of self-forested areas that have emerged naturally on abandoned agricultural land, but the procedure for transferring them to the Forest Fund remains complicated. According to Law No. 5650, the recognition of a plot as a forest requires the voluntary consent of communities, which often prefer to lease these lands to agricultural producers for plowing in order to obtain quick tax revenues.
The State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” emphasized that without official registration with the state enterprise, self-grown forests remain without proper care and fire protection. The registration of property rights makes it possible to include these areas in the state monitoring system and prevent their destruction through the economic activities of private individuals and communities.
By the end of 2024, communities had transferred 24,600 hectares of such land to state ownership, and in 2025, rights were formalized for another 9,500 hectares, of which 2,500 hectares were self-seeded forests.
The Appeals Chamber of the High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) has dismissed the charges against Yuriy Bolokhovets, CEO of the State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine,” according to a statement by lawyer Volodymyr Volodymyrov on Facebook.
According to a statement by the Advanq Law Firm (ADVANQ), which provided legal representation, the court’s decision is final and cannot be appealed. According to the lawyer, the court found the charges against the head of the state-owned enterprise to be unfounded.
“Even before the case was transferred to NABU, the investigation had done a tremendous amount of work, gathering a large amount of material, but was unable to find evidence of land seizure, receipt and legalization of illegal funds, or abuse of official authority. Four of the five charges were not confirmed at the investigation stage, and in court we managed to prove the groundlessness of the last one,” Volodymyr said.
He emphasized that the reason for the persecution of Bolokhovets was the forest reform, as a result of which “the old system was destroyed, and billions in revenues from the sale of state timber began to be paid into the budget.”
The lawyer recalled that last year Bolokhovets was held in custody for two months with an “unrealistic bail amount” imposed, and his family, colleagues, and defenders were also subjected to pressure and information attacks. At the same time, he expressed his respect for the anti-corruption authorities for their objective analysis of the materials despite external pressure.
The press service of the State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” emphasized that the pressure on the CEO was due to his position on the introduction of transparent market mechanisms for the sale of timber and the de-shadowing of the forestry industry.
As reported, Yuriy Bolokhovets was notified of the suspicion in July 2025. During the investigation, he was held in custody with the possibility of bail.
State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” is one of the largest forest users in Europe and is under the management of the State Agency of Forest Resources of Ukraine. The enterprise manages 6.6 million hectares of state forest fund land.
Last year, the forestry industry received UAH 6.9 billion in net profit, which is UAH 4.4 billion more than in 2024. This was announced by Viktor Smal, head of the State Forestry Agency, during the annual public report for 2025.
“In 2025, timber worth UAH 30.4 billion was sold, which is UAH 6.7 billion more than last year. The net profit of the industry amounted to UAH 6.9 billion, which is UAH 4.4 billion more than in 2024,” said the head of the State Forestry Agency.
Thus, the growth in profit significantly outpaced the growth in revenue.
The State Forestry Agency believes that this result was achieved thanks to the reforms and digitalization of the industry, even despite the fact that during the war there was a reduction in the areas available for management.
“Before the reform in 2020, when there were more resources and less extreme working conditions, the industry managed to earn only UAH 0.2 billion — almost 35 times less. This is the best proof that the reforms we have carried out have proven their effectiveness,” said Viktor Smal.
Also, according to him, in 2025, the profitability of forestry sector enterprises was 22.8% — 12.3% more than in the previous year, and the average salary increased by almost UAH 6,000 and currently stands at over UAH 30,000.
“Another indication of the success of the forestry sector reform was the amount of taxes paid. In 2025, UAH 16.1 billion was transferred to the budget, which is UAH 6.8 billion more than in the previous year. This is an absolute record in the history of independent Ukraine. And I am proud of this result, which was achieved through the diligent and systematic work of 24,000 employees in the industry,“ concluded the head of the State Forestry Agency.
As noted by the head of the State Enterprise ”Forests of Ukraine” Yuriy Bolokhovets, the economic results of 2025 were influenced not only by positive market conditions. There was an increase in the percentage of competitive procurement by the enterprise. For the first time, 97% of the procurement budget of the State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” was directed to Prozorro, resulting in savings of over UAH 700 million. Reorganization was also carried out, and administrative staff was optimized.
The team at State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” is constantly faced with pressure and attempts to lobby for the pre-reform opaque system of forest product sales. However, the company sells timber (except for firewood for the population and the social sector) exclusively through open auctions. Data on concluded exchange agreements for the purchase of timber is now fully open.
“The increase in forestry revenues means record growth in budget contributions, the restoration and protection of Ukrainian forests from fires, support for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, investments in infrastructure development, and technical re-equipment of forestry. Before the reform, profits were lost, but today financial flows have been de-shadowed and work in the interests of the state and the industry,” said Yuriy Bolokhovets.
The state-owned enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” plans to allocate UAH 400 million to upgrade its material and technical base and firefighting infrastructure in preparation for the fire-hazardous period of 2026, the company announced on Facebook.
“This year, we are tripling our investments compared to last year. We plan to purchase 16 large Ukrainian-made fire trucks, nearly 2,000 fire hoses, about 700 backpack sprayers, and dozens of forest firefighting units. The priority is to support frontline forestries operating in conditions of the greatest military risk,” the statement said.
This year, the state-owned enterprise also plans to equip 29 new observation towers with television systems and completely renovate 18 existing ones.
In addition, plans for 2026 include the creation of 31,000 km of new mineralized strips and the maintenance of 140,000 km of existing ones. To carry out this work, the company will purchase 42 special forest plows.
At the same time, Lesy Ukrainy will retrain its personnel: more than 2,000 employees will undergo training in the Forest Firefighting Manager and Forest Firefighter programs, and in the spring, joint training with the State Emergency Service will take place in the Poltava, Cherkasy, and Lviv regions.
A separate area of work will be the expansion of the network of recreational areas for safe recreation. State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” plans to build 50 such facilities in areas with a high risk of fire and significant tourist traffic. The largest number of sites is planned to be created in the Sumy, Chernihiv, and Carpathian regions, as well as in the Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Odesa, and Mykolaiv regions.
Last year, the company managed to reduce the area of forest fires by half compared to 2024. State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” is one of the largest forest users in Europe, managing a state forest fund covering an area of 6.6 million hectares.
