Ukraine
Environmental damage caused by the Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine
By Ministry Of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine
Ukraine has survived the most difficult winter in its history and continues to resist the Russian fossil-fuel dictatorship that pays as little respect to nature as it does to the sovereignty of its neighbors.
Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, over 2,300 cases of environmental damage have been recorded. The environmental losses assessment already amounts to more than UAH 1.9 trillion. Ruslan Strilets, the Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine,stated this during the discussion panel "Prosecuting Environmental War Crimes" at the United for Justice conference in Lviv.
According to the Minister, the State Environmental Inspection cooperates closely with the Ministry of Defense and the State Emergency Service to assess environmental damage and calculate losses. Ruslan Strilets thanked every environmental inspector who works 24/7 on documenting environmental crimes and cooperating with law enforcement agencies. At the same time, the Ministry of Environmental Protection is already elaborating the tools to clean up the pollution of Ukrainian lands and other consequences of the war.
"Today, after a year of tough resistance by the Ukrainians to the occupiers, there is no doubt that Ukraine will withstand and recover. Similarly, no one doubts that the aggressor must be held accountable. Every country in the world should understand that lawlessness, violations of international norms and encroachment on what is not yours cannot just go unnoticed. And the "Legal Ramstein" conference in Lviv is the best confirmation of this. The world is uniting efforts to hold accountable all those responsible for crimes against Ukraine and our environment. And we continue our struggle with such powerful support," - Ruslan Strilets emphasized.
In a video message to international partners, Ruslan Strilets talked about the losses that Ukraine's environment suffered during the one year of the full-scale war and called on partners to recognize "ecocide" as an international crime.
Ukraine’s environmental prosecutors are involved in investigating 104 military crimes that caused damage to the environment, of which 11 are investigated as alleged ecocide cases, said Deputy Prosecutor General Viktoriya Lytvynova at a press conference on the environmental damage caused by military action.
Nuclear and radiation safety threats
As reported by Energoatom, Europe's largest nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia has been seized and controlled by the Russian military for a year now. The occupiers continue to violate all nuclear and radiation safety requirements.
The Russian military lives at the nuclear power plant, having arranged living quarters and setting up a "kitchen" there. This blatantly violates fire safety as they cook food over an open flame. In addition, the occupiers mindlessly carry out welding work in the Zaporizhzhia NPP buildings. All these actions have repeatedly triggered the fire alarm.
In violation of all fire (and not only) safety requirements, the occupiers at the Zaporizhzhia NPP continue to place military equipment in the machine halls of the power units, the windows at the station are sealed with sandbags, and machine gun positions are arranged on its territory.
The IAEA has reported an increase in hostilities near the Zaporizhzhia NPP. The security situation around the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has escalated. In particular, the fighting near the NPP has intensified, and the number of Russian military personnel stationed there has increased. This was announced on March 6 by IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi.
The Government of Ukraine has simplified the procedure for importing firefighting equipment worth 1.1 million euros as humanitarian aid for the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone.
"From the first days of the full-scale war, the Chornobyl zone has become a platform for crimes and nuclear blackmail by Russian occupiers. They looted and destroyed 95% of special equipment and facilities, stole all fuel and lubricants. They did everything to prevent our employees from effectively fighting fires in the Chornobyl zone. Thanks to the support of our partners from the International Chornobyl Co-Operation Account, the Exclusion Zone will soon receive appropriate firefighting equipment that will help prevent and avoid catastrophic consequences of fires," - Minister Ruslan Strilets commented.
According to the Minister, fires in this area can not only destroy local flora and fauna but also cause the spread of dangerous radioactive particles throughout Ukraine and EU countries. The only way to prevent this is by having appropriate equipment that will help effectively extinguish fires.
Recent attacks on infrastructure and industrial sites
Russia continues to launch missile strikes and uses kamikaze drones to target critical infrastructure in Ukraine. Additionally, the Russian army is again using air-launched anti-ship cruise missiles known as the “aircraft carriers killers" to destroy residential civilian buildings of Ukrainians.
Since the full-scale armed aggression by Russian occupying forces began, nearly 5000 missile strikes and nearly 3500 airstrikes have been launched against Ukrainian targets. Almost 1000 strikes have also been carried out using UAVs. This was reported by the deputy chief of the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Brigadier General Oleksiy Hromov.
On February 23:
- occupiers attacked settlements in the Kherson region 73 times in a day. Russian shells hit critical infrastructure and residential buildings.
- in the Kharkiv region, a four-story administration building of a village council was destroyed and a fire broke out as a result of Russian shelling.
In Kherson, there was a critical situation with heating due to the shelling by Russian forces. On February 24, the Ministry of Energy reported that important equipment and heating systems were damaged at the Kherson Thermal Power Plant as a result of the shelling.
On February 25, the aggressor attacked the Nikopol district 9 times during the night with heavy artillery. Three high schools, an administrative building, two private enterprises, and a store were damaged in Nikopol. 12 private houses and 10 industrial buildings were damaged in Marganets. Gas pipelines and power lines were also damaged.
On the night of February 26 to 27, the terrorist state launched 14 UAVs against Ukraine. The Russians attacked Khmelnytskyi three times. One person was killed, and four others were injured. The Russians shelled Zaporizhzhia with S-300 missiles. An administrative building was damaged.
On February 28, Russian forces:
- launched strikes with MLRS and other types of artillery on the Ochakiv community and the coast of the Kutsyuruba community;
- deliberately attacked a facility of the State Emergency Service in Sviatohirsk, the Donetsk region, killing one rescuer.
During the night of March 1, the occupiers attacked the Poltava region with Shahed kamikaze drones, all of which were shot down, causing fires at an infrastructure facility.
On March 2, the Russians:
- destroyed a 5-story residential building in Zaporizhzhia with a missile strike, killing 13 Ukrainian civilians, including an 8-month-old child. Municipal services removed over 853 tons of demolition waste from the site;
- attacked a humanitarian aid distribution point in the Kherson region, injuring 9 civilians.
On March 3, the Russians shelled the Nikopol district with artillery, damaging a private enterprise and 4 buildings.
On March 5, Russian forces shelled Kupiansk in the Kharkiv region, damaging a transport infrastructure facility and causing a fire.
On March 6, the Russians launched 15 combat drones, 13 of which were destroyed by Ukrainian forces.
On March 7, the occupiers shelled at least 18 settlements in the Kharkiv, Chuhuiv, and Kupiansk districts of the Kharkiv region and struck the Kherson region 61 times.
On March 8, Ukrainian defenders eliminated two Iranian kamikaze drones that were used by the occupiers to attack Ukraine from the north.
According to the State Emergency Service, since the start of the war, there have been 83,059 deployments of rescuers to eliminate the consequences of Russian shelling, and 14,066 fires have been extinguished.
Massive fires at infrastructure and industrial facilities lead to air pollution with particularly dangerous substances. Pollutants can be carried by winds over long distances.
Journalists from Radio Liberty gathered satellite images that illustrate the extent of damage to the environment after February 24, 2022, and showed them to environmentalists who commented on the future impact on the environment and its restoration. The consequences of the strikes on oil and gas industry enterprises are considered some of the most dangerous for the environment in Ukraine, as oil spills that soak into the soil and groundwater can kill almost all living organisms with which they come into contact.
Pollution caused directly by hostilities
According to the International Coordination Center for Humanitarian Demining of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, from February 24, 2022 to March 8, 2023, 330,063 explosive objects, including 2,191 aircraft bombs, were neutralized in Ukraine. An area of 801.9 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.
In 2022, 185 civilians were killed and several hundred were injured in mine explosions in Ukraine. Ukraine is now one of the most heavily mined countries in the world, and this problem will last for decades. It only takes a few days of shelling to make the land unsuitable for growing crops, while it takes months of work by sappers to remove explosive objects from it. Full humanitarian demining will cost billions of dollars and require a lot of equipment and specialists. Ukraine’s Association of Sappers believes that the complete demining of Ukraine could take decades. However, the experience of other countries, such as Croatia, and new technologies can speed up this process. More details about the demining problems are discussed in an article by the Economic Pravda.
In Ukraine, more than 5 million hectares of agricultural land cannot be sown because they are mined, contaminated with explosive remnants, or ongoing hostilities are taking place there. For example, winter crops were sown on only 4.5 million hectares, although last year these crops were sown on 7.7 million hectares. This directly affects the food security of Ukraine and the world. This was reported by Oleksandr Haiduk, the Chairman of the Committee on Agrarian and Land Policy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.
The army of a terrorist country has published photos confirming a war crime. Marinka is a former district center in the Donetsk region. As of 2015, almost 10,000 people lived there. Within a year of the full-scale war, the occupiers wiped the city off the face of the earth.
The destruction of buildings and settlements leads to environmental pollution with construction waste and asbestos. The consequences of such pollution for the environment will last for years.
Damage to natural reserves and protected ecosystems
Before the war, the Trostianets forestry was a crown jewel of the Sumy region, but after a month of Russian occupation, almost everything in it was completely destroyed. The wood processing plant, offices, and the motor pool were completely burned down; the forest museum was damaged. All structural units were affected at the branch. More details are in the video.
The Izyum forest in the Kharkiv region suffered greatly from hostilities. Most of it burned down. Experts note that the trees that burned there were on average 30-40 years old. This is not a man-made forest, but a real natural forest, and its restoration will take decades. There is currently no possibility to fully assess the damage that was done to the Izyum forest, but from satellite images, we can already see that the damage to the environment was significant.
The loss of forests is the loss of habitats for various plant and animal species. But, above all, a forest fire releases CO2 emissions (greenhouse gases) that exacerbates ongoing climate change.
Damage to freshwater resources
According to the State Ecological Inspection of Ukraine, during the year of full-scale aggression, the Russian military caused damages totaling more than UAH 57 billion due to water pollution and unauthorized use of water resources.
The impact of the war on water resources has permeated all sectors of the economy and has crossed national borders long ago. Water intake in Ukraine has decreased, and discharges of polluted wastewater have increased. The southern and eastern regions of Ukraine, where the most active military actions are taking place, consume the most freshwater and, at the same time, are the most vulnerable to the reduction of its reserves.
In addition to the direct impact on water quality, experts draw attention to the situation with water bodies. Due to military actions and the resulting technological pollution, destruction of bridges, dams, and coastline, contamination with oil products and heavy metals, many small rivers and ponds in Ukraine have suffered a pathological impact on biodiversity. Fish die in water bodies, the life and migration cycles of water birds are disrupted, and water bodies lose their ability to self-purify and naturally regenerate. More details about the damage to Ukraine's water resources due to the war are discussed in an article in the Hmarochos media outlet.
Black and Azov Seas
As a result of the war in the Black and Azov Seas, serious threats to the environment have arisen, including mines and explosions, oil and fuel spills, fires on the coast, and the spread of infectious diseases.
Almost a thousand cases of dolphins’ deaths have been recorded along the entire coast of the Black Sea: in Ukraine, Bulgaria, and Turkey. It is difficult to predict how many animals have been affected because scientists do not have access to a full investigation in the Black and Azov Seas.
In response to the mass ecocide of dolphins in the Black Sea as a result of Russian armed aggression, corresponding criminal proceedings have already been initiated by the Odesa Prosecutor's Office.
Today, anyone can help collect evidence to hold Russia responsible for the killing of dolphins. To do this, it is important to notify scientists at the Ukrainian Scientific Center for the Ecology of the Sea and the I. I. Schmalhausen Institute of Zoology about new cases of dolphin deaths using the following numbers: +38 067 390 0118 (WhatsApp, Telegram), +38 095 548 6553 (WhatsApp, Telegram, Viber), +38 063 970 1500 (WhatsApp, Telegram, Viber).
When reporting, it is necessary to indicate the location (coordinates) and attach photos of the dead dolphin. Under no circumstances should one touch the dead animals - they can be a source of infection. Experts will collect samples and send them for analysis to leading European research centers in Italy and Germany.
Previous Reports
Previous reports on environmental crimes committed by Russian troops since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine are temporarily not available online as a website of the Ministry of the Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine is down because of a cyberattack. If you would like to receive previous reports, please send a request to this email.
