Police have opened an investigation into the mass fish kill in the Zbruch River

Law enforcement officials have opened a criminal investigation into the pollution of the Zbruch River and the mass fish kill in the Skala-Podilska community in Ternopil Oblast. Specialists from the State Environmental Inspection identified the probable site of the chemical discharge and detected elevated levels of ammonium, nitrates, nitrites, and biochemical oxygen demand in the water.

According to Andriy Kundrat, acting deputy head of the regional office of the State Environmental Inspection, the results of analyses of the liquid from the identified pipe indicate that the discharge originated from a processing plant. Ihor Loboda, chairman of the Skala-Podilska village council, reported that there is only one such facility in the community—a juice and wine factory. Galina Golovachuk, executive director of the company “Dinter Ukraine Skala,” declined to comment on the incident until the relevant authorities have completed their investigation.

The fish kill was discovered in late August by local resident Vitalii Khomychyk, who linked the incident to the juice and wine factory’s operations during the apple harvest. According to a statement by Petro Ilnytskyi, head of the neighboring Hukiv community in Khmelnytskyi Oblast, the police have also launched an investigation. For now, local residents have been advised to refrain from swimming, fishing, and using water from the Zbruch River for household purposes.

Source: “Suspilne Ternopil.”

In the Kyiv region, access to three bodies of water has been restricted due to a massive fish kill.

Earlier, it was reported that work is ongoing in Kyiv to address the consequences of the pollution of Lake Kyrylivske with petroleum products following a massive Russian attack.