Ukraine loses $3.4 million from illegal logging in 2015

Ukraine lost around $3.4 million in 2015 from illegal logging of its forests, the media reported on Wednesday.

"It is an estimated data. In fact, the scale of illegal logging in Ukraine could be even more extensive," Xinhua news agency quoted a forest official as saying.

In 2015, an estimated 24,000 cubic metres of wood were unlawfully cut down in Ukraine, the official said.

The official added that in the first half of 2016, the volume of illegal logging in the country increased by 36% year-on-year to about 15,800 cubic metres of timber.

To camp down on the illegal practices, the government plans to set up a unified electronic database of the country's woods and introduce harsher punishments for illegal loggers and traders, the official said.