June 16, 2025, 4:16 p.m.

District council deputy files lawsuit against national park over fishing ban

(Photo collage: Intent)

The former head of the Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi District Council of Odesa Oblast, Hryhoriy Melnychenko, said he had appealed to the court to cancel the order of the special administration of the Lower Dniester National Nature Park, which introduced a temporary restriction on the stay of people on the banks of the Hlybokyi Turunchuk River on June 15.

The district council deputy posted this on his Facebook page.

According to him, the demands also include the immediate suspension of this order. In addition, according to the deputy, he has prepared an appeal to the Minister of Ecology demanding the dismissal of the deputy head of the national park, Mykola Rozhenko. The MP also said that he had appealed to the police to initiate criminal proceedings against the author of the order.

"My personal opinion is that this national park should be abolished as an illegally created and operating park that violates the rights of territorial communities and people. Dismiss all the lazy people who falsely call themselves employees of the national park," the deputy said.

On June 15, the special administration of the Lower Dniester National Nature Park introduced a temporary restriction on the stay of people on the banks of the Deep Turunchuk River in Odesa Oblast.

The Turunchuk or New Dniester is a river in Moldova (Transnistria) and Ukraine, a branch of the Dniester. It is 30 meters wide with a normal depth of up to 6 meters, and up to 9 meters in depressions. Below the village of Mayaki, the Dniester is separated from the river by the 6-kilometer-long arm of the Deep Turunchuk, an artificial channel about 100 meters wide and 9-10 meters deep. Thus, the Dniester River flows into the Dniester Estuary in two branches, the Dniester itself and the Hlybokyi Turunchuk.

It is worth noting that Hryhoriy Melnychenko's relative, Viktor Melnychenko, is the head of the limited liability company Hunter and Fisherman of the XXI Century. In addition, Hryhorii Melnychenko is the chairman of the NGO Society of Hunters and Fishermen of the XXI Century.

In December 2023, the Schemes publication published information that Hryhorii Melnychenko, accused of misappropriation of state property, while still the head of the Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi District Council in Odesa region, acquired two land plots worth almost a million hryvnias during the full-scale invasion of Russia in 2022.

In September of the same year, the court reduced the bail for the former head of the Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi District Council, Hryhorii Melnychenko, from UAH 5 million to UAH 800 thousand. Hryhoriy Melnychenko was detained by the SBU on August 10, 2023. According to the investigation, the official, under the pretext of allegedly protecting state property from enemy shelling, seized a TUNA 865 Cabin speedboat with two outboard engines and a car trailer by misleading persons who had the property stored on the territory of the Sauvignon Yacht Club in Odesa and entering false information in documents.

Кирило Бойко

You might also like:

Jan. 29, 2026

A bomber was shot down over the Black Sea during an attack on Odesa region

Jan. 28, 2026

Kivalov Odesa Law Academy ordered media advertising from a regular contractor

"It's as if we are supposed to be unbreakable and powerful by default," Yevhenia Henova

Jan. 27, 2026

Odesa customs officers failed to return confiscated unjustified assets

Jan. 26, 2026

Odesa region is among the top five in terms of the number of businessmen with an income of 10 million

Odesa without myth: Oleksandr Lisovsky on contemporary art

Environmental damage to Odesa and Mykolaiv regions from the war reached 484 billion

Odesa planetarium lost windows and doors as a result of shelling, but is still operating

The first head of the Department of Criminalistics of Odesa Law Academy dies

Jan. 25, 2026

Lysak managed to redraw Odesa's budget at the end of 2025

Environmentalist says beach season in Odesa may be disrupted by sea pollution

Amazing south: a competitor of the Dead Sea from Odesa region

Lyceum building in Odesa region halved in price

Odesa terminates agreement with businessman involved in journalistic investigation

Odesa court sentences Kherson resident to 10 years for collaboration