One third of the protected natural areas in Ukraine have been bombed, polluted or burned by the Russian army. Some three million hectares of forest have suffered the impact of the fighting and 450,000 are under occupation. The pollution losses of land, water and air are estimated at 45,000 million euros. More than 33 million tons of CO2 have been emitted into the atmosphere in the first year of the war.
To the incalculable human tragedy – more than 8,000 dead civilians, tens of thousands of soldiers, eight million refugees – we must add the hidden cost of this other bloody battle that is being waged against nature.
The local organization Ecoaction y Greenpeace have joined forces to map “ecological destruction” in Ukraine and have recorded at least 840 incidents with the biggest impacts: from explosions and the destruction of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to the fires in the Luhansk nature reserve, the oil spills in the Black Sea, the massive destruction of crop fields in the east or the emptying of the Kakhovskaya reservoir that supplies the south of the country.
The deputy Yuliia Ovchynnykova, in charge of the environmental committee of the Parliament, has meanwhile launched an appeal for the recognition of the “crimes against nature” committed in the war in Ukraine. Its goal will be to be able to try Russia in an international court for ecocide, a crime already established in the Ukrainian penal code as “the massive destruction of flora and fauna, air and water pollution and other actions that can cause an environmental disaster.”
Stop Ecocide International, the organization co-founded by activist and lawyer Polly Higgins (died 2019), has redoubled its efforts since the start of the Ukrainian war to achieve the recognition of ‘ecocide’ as a crime that he can be tried by the International Criminal Court, together with those of genocide, war crimes, aggression and crimes against humanity.
The Russian invasion has not only mobilized civil resistance in Ukraine, but has also deployed a veritable army of activists on the ground, ready not only to measure the destruction but to raise the country’s environmental record and link it to ‘green rebuilding’ with international funds.
“The war is affecting nature as badly as it is affecting our population and our infrastructure,” warns Yevhenia Zasiadko, a spokeswoman for EcoAction. “However, damage is often invisible and ignored, and the environment is the silent victim. The negative impact of the war on nature is going to last for years, which is why we want to give it a voice and integrate it into reconstruction plans.”
the chemical cocktail
Ukraine has received the impact of more than 320,000 rocket and artillery explosions, which in addition to causing a large number of victims and enormous destruction -visible above all in cities such as Mariupol or Soledar- produce a lethal cocktail of chemical products in the air. : from carbon monoxide to the oxides of sulfur and nitrogen that it can cause ‘acid rain’, change the PH of the soil, burn the vegetation and affect the respiratory organs. Bombardments of fuel depots and factories of military importance caused large fires in the first phase of the invasion. The assault on the Azovstal steel mill and other strategic industries in the south and east of the country has also had a major environmental impact.
metal charge
Metal fragments from projectiles also cause great damage to the environment. On the other hand, it is estimated that up to 250,000 tons of metal waste, from more than 3,000 destroyed Russian tanks and other artillery pieces are scattered across the fields. Cast iron, steel, and copper can find their way into the soil, seep into groundwater, and enter the food chain, ultimately affecting animals and people.
The agricultural surface. It is estimated that a third of the country’s agricultural land is “uncultivable” due to the effect of the war. Ukraine was considered the ‘breadbasket of Europe’ (main exporter of wheat and sunflower oil) and the military considered the country’s “food infrastructure” as its main target: from the blockade of ports to attacks on large farms. Even so, the Russian invasion has not meant “a threat to food security” in the country, according to the Ministry of Agriculture.
natural spaces
A total of 1.24 million hectares of protected areas have been affected by the war. More than 160 nature reserves, sixteen wetlands and two biosphere reserves are threatened with destruction. Ukrainian Polesia, one of the largest wetlands in Europe, was severely affected by the failed Russian invasion attempt from the north.
Protected species
Some 600 species of animals and 880 species of native plants are in danger of extinction. War activity in the Black Sea may have caused the death of thousands of dolphins. It is estimated that the war may have also caused the death or disappearance of up to six million domestic animals.
nuclear facilities
The military occupation of the Chernobyl facilities and exclusion zone in the first days of the war highlighted the risks of radioactive leaks. The bombardment of the city of Zaporizhia and the assault on the power station of the same name, the largest in Europe, also left in evidence the nuclear danger of this war and the strong vulnerability of the energy system from Ukraine.
fossil fuels
“The war in Ukraine is showing that dependence on fossil fuels is not just the cause of climate change, but it also fuels war conflicts“, says Francisco del Pozo, head of Greenpeace’s energy campaign, who has taken advantage of the first anniversary to remember how the EU has allocated more than 130,000 million euros to the purchase of Russian coal, oil, uranium and gas since the start of war.
green horizon
“The road to a sustainable future in Ukraine starts now; we cannot wait for victory,” warns Olha Boiko, a member of the Ukrainian Climate Network. “The country has to decentralize its energy system, diversify its ‘energy mix’ with renewables, which today barely reaches 12%, and bet on energy efficiency in the reconstructionto avoid at all costs reaching the estimate of 50 million tons of CO2 emissions”.
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