This year, a telling incident occurred in one of our forestry units in the southern regions. A forester, while driving a service vehicle “Niva”, lost control and went off the road. Fortunately, no one was injured, but the car sustained mechanical damage. The forester managed to find a similar “Niva” somewhere and worked with it for several months without informing anyone. During an inspection, employees of the Department of Internal and Economic Security discovered this fact.

Eventually, the forester repaired the service “Niva”.  Meanwhile, the situation highlights a critical problem with transport. For the maintenance of two forestry units (10,000 hectares), there is only one old VAZ, with no alternative available.

At the same time, sometimes a forester has to cover up to 200 km a day: accepting products at warehouses, supervising teams working on forest allotments, promptly responding to forest fires, conducting patrols to prevent illegal logging and poaching. The forester supervises 16 forest masters, who constantly use their personal vehicles for work.

2–3 reliable vehicles per forestry unit is the minimum required for normal operations! SFE “Forests of Ukraine” has more than 1,300 such forestry units!

The transport issue had existed in state forestry enterprises even before the war. With the start of the full-scale invasion, it worsened significantly — foresters transferred more than a thousand units of equipment to the front, including over a hundred passenger cars. This year, SFE “Forests of Ukraine” integrated the Izyum, Vovchansk, and Kupyansk forestry enterprises, and is in the process of merging the Donetsk and Kherson forestries, where practically no transport remained after hostilities or occupation.

Therefore, the enterprise is gradually investing in renewing its vehicle fleet. In 2024, we purchased 250 vehicles. Since the beginning of this year, 130 off-road vehicles have already been acquired.

Two weeks ago, we announced a new tender for the procurement of 86 pickup trucks. This week, we are starting the procurement process for 208 crossovers to be delivered in 2025–2026.

The make and model of the crossovers have not been specified to expand the pool of potential bidders. The procurement budget has been set with a focus on the most affordable segment, ensuring the best balance of price and necessary quality.

The vehicles will be delivered in batches throughout this and next year. Purchasing a large number of vehicles at once allows us to reduce the price.