According to the data of the World Health Organization for 2016, Ukraine ranks fourth in Europe by number of deaths per 100 thousand persons (137 deaths) resulting from air pollutionⁱ. To compare, in the neighbouring Poland and Slovakia this figure makes respectively 76 and 59 cases, and in Austria – only 39 out of 100 thousand deaths. Analysis of drinkable water, made by private laboratories in Kyiv region, showed that out 15.6 thousand samples of water taken from the region’s supply wells and wells, respectively in 21% and 36 % of cases water was polluted. In Dnipropetrovsk region the results of analysis of about one hundred fifty supply wells showed that water was polluted in 71% out of themⁱⁱ.

Ukraine has legislative acts in place, aimed to regulate social relations in the field of natural resources use and to protect the environment from pollution and excessive use. The rules of the game in the field are supported by established liability (criminal, administrative, civil) for their breach, but not to a sufficient extent. Nowadays citizens and businesses constantly violate environmental norms, while the state is not capable of enforcing their adequate performance using legal liability remedies.