Briefing on the environmental damage caused by the Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine

Failing on the battlefield, the Russian aggressor cynically continues to use terror tactics against Ukraine and its environment.

Russian invaders have killed and maimed thousands of Ukrainians while also destroying nature and the environment by poisoning water, air, and soil. Experts estimate that the toxic consequences of the war will impact even future generations of Ukrainians.

According to approved methodologies, the State Environmental Inspectorate has estimated the environmental damage at approximately UAH 1.947 trillion. A video report on the environmental crimes committed by the occupiers with comments from experts from the Ministry of Environmental Protection and subordinate agencies was broadcast on the national telethon.

Ukraine and Italy will work together to restore the environment damaged by the war. The relevant Memorandum on Cooperation was signed on April 27 on the sidelines of the Conference on Ukraine's Reconstruction in Rome by Yevheniy Fedorenko, the Deputy Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine for European Integration, and Gilberto Pichetto Fratin, the Minister of the Environment and Energy Security of Italy.

Yevheniy Fedorenko informed international partners about Ukraine's top environmental priorities, stating that it is crucial for Ukraine to launch an effective environmental monitoring system. Assistance is needed for managing water bodies and analyzing their conditions. Ukraine also needs reference laboratories for ambient air monitoring.

As noted by Mr. Pichetto Fratin, Italy supports Ukraine and will continue to provide necessary assistance. In particular, Italy is ready to participate in financing Ukrainian projects from the Italian Green Fund.

Nuclear and radiation safety threats

On April 27, British intelligence reported that Russian military personnel had set up firing positions on the roofs of the power units at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP). The photos show that Russian forces had set up firing positions with sandbags on the roofs of several of the six power units before March 2023. Russia has controlled the ZNPP since March 2022. However, this is the first indication that the power unit buildings have been integrated into tactical defense planning. Such actions by the Russian forces increase the likelihood of damage to the ZNPP's safety systems if fighting occurs around the facility.

On May 3, the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine stated that representatives of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had reported the placement by Russian occupiers of military equipment, weapons, and explosives in the turbine room of the 4th power unit at ZNPP.

The new criminal actions of the Russian occupiers are another step that causes significant harm to the nuclear and radiation safety of the nuclear facilities located at the industrial site of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. The inadequate decisions and actions of the Russian military endanger both the personnel of the nuclear power plant and the residents of nearby settlements.

The Ukrainian parliament has appealed to the parliaments of the EU and all world countries, as well as to the IAEA, regarding the imposition of sanctions on Rosatom and the introduction of measures to reduce cooperation with the Russian Federation in the field of nuclear energy. The corresponding resolution was adopted by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on May 2, 2023. The appeal calls for the start of work on a sanctions mechanism and its criteria that will be applied in the future if the nuclear terrorism of the Russian Federation intensifies.

Ruslan Strilets, the Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine, stated in a live broadcast of the telethon that Ukraine's goal is to transform the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone into a “recovery zone”.

Since the early days of the full-scale war, the Chornobyl Zone has become a site for crimes and nuclear blackmail by Russian occupiers. They have looted and destroyed a significant part of specialized equipment and facilities, demolished a number of buildings where the personnel of the Exclusion Zone worked, and stolen its fuel supplies.

Thanks to the support of international partners, enterprises in the Exclusion Zone receive various types of assistance, including dosimetry equipment, a mobile laboratory, spectrometers, emergency vehicles, personal protective equipment, communication tools, special clothing, computers and laptops, radioactive waste containers, server and network equipment, measuring equipment for remote radiation monitoring, and individual dosimeters for personnel, firefighting vehicles, and equipment for preventing and extinguishing fires in the Exclusion Zone. In addition, the Central Analytical Laboratory has been restored with the international partners’ funding.

Recent attacks on infrastructure and industrial sites

On April 27, Russians:

• launched Calibre missiles at Mykolaiv, causing one building to be destroyed and another damaged. A residential high-rise and a historic building also suffered significant damage.
• attacked an agricultural enterprise in the Nikopol district of the Dnipropetrovsk region, killing 700 poultry.

On 28 April, Russian terrorists carried out a massive missile and drone attack:

• in Uman, the Cherkasy region, a multi-story building was destroyed; 23 civilians, including 4 children, were killed.
• in Dnipro, a private house was destroyed, 2 people killed, and a fire broke out at construction storage.
• in Ukrayinka, the Kyiv region, missile fragments hit a high-rise, injuring a child
  

On 29 April, law enforcement received 6 reports of destruction caused by Russian attacks on residential buildings and civil infrastructure in the Vasyliv, Zaporizhzhia, and Polohy districts of the Zaporizhzhia region.On 30 April, occupiers launched an attack with MSLR on the center of Kupyansk, the Kharkiv region. A private house and garages were damaged, and fires broke out.On the night of 1 May, the terrorist country carried out another massive missile attack:

• in the Pavlograd district of the Dnipropetrovsk region, 24 multi-story buildings, 80 private residential houses, 9 schools and preschools, and 5 shops were damaged.
• an attack was also reported near an industrial facility in the Zhytomyr region.

On 3 May, Russia launched 26 Shahed-136/131 drones at Ukraine:

• in the Kirovograd region, Iranian drones struck an oil depot.
• in Dnipro, an administrative building was damaged, causing a fire.

Large-scale fires at infrastructure and industrial facilities lead to air pollution by particularly dangerous substances. Pollutants can be carried by winds over long distances.

Pollution caused directly by hostilities

According to the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, from February 24, 2022 to May 3, 2023, 354,111 explosive objects, including 2,218 aircraft bombs, were neutralized in Ukraine. An area of 840.2 square kilometers was surveyed for explosives. There are still 174,000 square kilometers of potentially dangerous areas remaining, which is 30% of the country's total area.

Several videos have been published over the last month showing Russian occupiers in Mariupol dumping debris into rivers. The city council of Mariupol is concerned that this will lead to an environmental disaster. However, the issue with rivers is only a part of the catastrophe caused by the occupiers in Mariupol, said Maxim Borodin, head of the city council's commission on ecology and environmental protection, in an interview with Suspilne.

Borodin says that environmental problems existed in Mariupol before the war but were not so severe. Currently, it involves thousands of tons of explosives, destruction of buildings and factories, as well as Azovstal steel works, where tons of chemical waste were stored.

Currently, it is difficult to assess the situation with pollution in the Mariupol district. Conclusions can only be made after the region is liberated and studies are conducted.

Mariupol has been under siege by the Russian army since the beginning of March 2022. During the war, at least 20,000 people died in Mariupol. Mayor Vadym Boychenko has reported that the city's infrastructure has been damaged by 90% as a result of the fighting.

Damage to natural reserves and protected ecosystems

Rescuers have discovered the remains of munitions from the Grad multiple rocket launcher system in the territory of the Sviatoshyn forestry near Kyiv. This was reported by the Department of Municipal Security of Kyiv.

The Department of Municipal Security marks that during the period of martial law, visiting forests in Kyiv and driving vehicles and other equipment in the forests is prohibited. Experts urge people to avoid visiting green areas outside residential areas, as explosive objects may remain there, posing great risks for citizens and firefighters in case of a fire.

The filming of the Divia documentary about the impact of Russia's full-scale invasion on Ukraine’s nature continues. Despite significant damage, nature is slowly recovering, but, on the other hand, minefields are overgrown with grass, making it much more difficult to detect and disarm explosive objects.

Damage to freshwater resources

The occupation of eastern Ukraine by Russian forces since 2014 and hostilities have led to power outages and, as a result, flooding of coal mine shafts located in the region. This, in addition to unregulated and illegal coal mining, poses a significant threat to the environment.

Due to power outages in the lower levels of the mines, entire pumping systems have been put out of order. If the underground water is not pumped out, it fills the voids in the mines, and heavy metals and salts leak from the rock. As the mine water makes its way through the underground tunnels, it mixes with clean groundwater, forming a toxic cocktail.

In many places, mine water washes toxic substances from the rock at different depths. The final phase of flooding occurs when mine water reaches the surface and enters rivers, eventually flowing into the Sea of Azov.

Scientists have even more alarming forecasts regarding future changes to the environmental situation in the Donbas region over the next 10-50 years due to flooded mines, including:

• Subsidence and flooding of soils, making the land unsuitable for agriculture;
• Pollution of drinking water in wells and water bodies with heavy metals and minerals;
• Surface emissions of methane, a combustible gas, and its entry into basements;
• Formation of sinkholes above the areas where ore has subsided in the mines;
• Technogenic earthquakes.

Further details on the environmental consequences of the Russian occupation of Donbas can be found in the Ukraine War Environmental Consequences Work Group's report.

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Black and Azov Seas

According to Dr. Ivan Rusev, a biologist, there was no activity of the Russian naval and undersea fleet in the Northwestern part of the Black Sea in April 2023. As a result, playful live dolphins are often seen in this part of the Black Sea.

However, more than a hundred dead dolphins have already been recorded in the bays of Sevastopol and other coasts of occupied Crimea and near Novorossiysk, Sochi, Gelendzhik, and Anapa in April 2023, including injured animals with symptoms of alleged military sonar exposure. If only more than 100 deaths have been registered only on the shore, the actual number of deaths is much higher and, according to scientific assessments, could amount to more than 1,000 dolphins.

According to the scientist, this confirms that the activity of Russian submarines and surface ships near Crimea and Novorossiysk is the main factor causing the death of Black Sea cetaceans in April 2023.

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