KYIV. Aug 10 (Interfax-Ukraine) - Chernivtsi region is the leader among Ukrainian regions by volume of timber cut in national nature reserve funds.

In 2013-2014 the region cut 114,533 cubic meters of timber. Zakarpattia region ranked second with 87,295 cubic meters of timber, while Chernihiv region was third with 64,336 cubic meters.

"Chernivtsi region cuts twice more than such forest regions as Zakarpattia and Chernihiv," Director of the Kyiv Ecological and Cultural Center Volodymyr Boreiko said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine.

In addition to the above mentioned regions, the leaders in deforestation included Kherson and Odesa regions. At the same time, "relatively unforested" Vinnytsia region ranked first in terms of deforestation.

According to the Kyiv Ecological and Cultural Center, the annual forest cutting area is 44,000 hectares, which is approximately equal to the five areas of the Kyiv National Park Holosiyevsky. This is more than one million cubic meters of forest, which is nearly 0.06% of official logging in Ukraine. However, it is impossible to calculate exact data, as there are formal logging operations, informal logging operations and illegal logging operations.