Horvat Heorhiy Heorhiyovych

Head of the Environmental Commission of the Zakarpattia Regional Council, who traded oak as firewood

Deputy of the Zakarpattia Regional Council from the Batkivshchyna party, chairman of the permanent commission of the council on ecology and use of natural resources, agro-industrial complex, and rural development. A resident of Mukachevo, also the director of the State Enterprise "Passenger Transport Dispatcher Service" and deputy of the Mukachevo District Council. That is, an official who, by status, was supposed to oversee the protection of Zakarpattia forests, but himself organized their illegal sale.

Oak scheme, criminal group, and the State Bureau of Investigation (DBR) criminal case

In June 2025, law enforcement uncovered Horvat’s accomplice — the head of Berehove Forestry of the Carpathian Forest Office branch of SE "Ukrainian Forests," who sold valuable oak timber of higher grades disguised as wood with defects, artificially reducing its value. The scheme also involved ordinary forestry workers and a front company. According to the investigation, the deputy personally arranged with the end buyer from Rivne region, and two trucks of valuable oak were sold as ordinary firewood. In September 2025, the DBR and the Office of the Prosecutor General issued the first suspicion notice to Horvat. In December 2025, the head of the Zakarpattia Regional Prosecutor's Office approved an amendment of the suspicion — the investigation classified his actions as organizing a criminal group. Total damages in the case exceed 1.8 million UAH; the case has been referred to court. Simultaneously, in August 2025, the deputy’s 17-year-old son was detained on suspicion of a group robbery of a displaced woman from occupied Donetsk — 5,100 euros and 4,000 UAH were stolen; a bail of 10 million UAH was soon posted for the son.