How ‘servants of the people’ are preparing Ukrainian villages for the winter of war: Mykola Tomenko shares his opinion

Ukrainians will be able to be fined tens of thousands of hryvnias and sentenced to up to seven years in prison for storing firewood without documents. The relevant draft law was passed by the Verkhovna Rada in October and submitted to the President for his signature. The draft law caused a wide public outcry as its focus on tightening control over the storage of wood without proper documents generated a lot of debate. Critics believe that instead of tackling the real problem of illegal deforestation and irresponsible officials, ordinary citizens, especially rural residents, who need to collect firewood during the harsh winter, are being hit.

Mykola Tomenko shared his opinion on the law and condemned its adoption, revealing the details of the vote and its consequences.

Tomenko said that when publications appeared about the adoption of the law on liability for illegal storage of wood without documents, he thought it was a joke. However, as it turned out, the law was adopted, and it provides for serious liability for the storage, transportation and sale of wood, shrubs or other forest resources without documents confirming the legality of their origin. Sanctions for such a violation include a fine of UAH 34,000 or imprisonment for a term of 5 to 7 years.

Ironically, Tomenko noted that the initiators of the ‘protection of firewood from peasants’ were some ‘patriotic deputies’ and members of the Servant of the People. Among them are Pavliuk, known for his ‘customs honesty’, and Buzhansky, known for his commitment to the ‘Russian world’. To pass this law, 193 MPs from the Servant of the People faction joined forces with representatives of the banned OPFL, a party led by Liovochkin and Surkis that has recently openly supported Putin and cooperated with Russian officials. Representatives of the For the Future and Dovira parliamentary groups also joined. Tomenko noted that the representatives of these groups, who live in villas in France, Italy, Spain and Cyprus, do not face the problems of heat and electricity that residents of frontline areas in Kharkiv, Sumy, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia and Chernihiv regions have to deal with.

Tomenko stressed that he had once initiated and co-authored a law banning the export of logs abroad and felt all the pressure from the ‘forest mafia’, which was friendly to the government of the day. He stressed that the current MPs should have been fighting massive deforestation, which is taking place under the cover of local authorities and with the assistance of officials from the State Agency of Forest Resources, rather than ordinary villagers trying to survive.

Given the unpredictability of the winter period, Tomenko proposes to allow and organise free collection of dead wood for citizens’ own needs, as our forests and forest belts are overrun with it. According to Soviet regulations, only foresters have the right to collect dead wood, but funds have not been allocated for this for a long time. As a result, Tomenko says, one can only hear about forest cleaning from the stories of older generations.

Tomenko also voiced his expectations of MPs to make other decisions that are more relevant in wartime. In particular, he called for

• cancellation of the planned UAH 890 million for party advertising in 2025;
• optimisation of expenditures on the Verkhovna Rada’s activities, which amount to more than UAH 3 billion and 102 million;
• cutting spending on regulatory agencies, such as tax inspectorates and the BES, which put pressure on small and medium-sized businesses;
• creating uniform rules for calculating pensions for judges;
• streamlining salaries for all officials so that they do not exceed the level of payments to the military, including members of supervisory boards, heads of amalgamated territorial communities and employees of state agencies.

Tomenko expressed hope that such changes would help society cope with current challenges and focus resources on helping ordinary people rather than protecting the interests of individual politicians and officials.