Briefing on the environmental damage caused by the Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine (December 16 - December 29, 2023)

Among the thousands of casualties and devastating consequences of the war brought to our land by Russia, we must not forget an important aspect - the damage this conflict has caused to the Ukrainian environment. This damage has a direct impact on the lives of citizens and the economic prospects of our country.

During the full-scale war, Russia has committed more than 3,100 cases of environmental crimes in Ukraine, totalling more than UAH 2.2 trillion. This was announced on 19 December in an exclusive interview with Ukrainian Radio by Ruslan Strilets, Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine. He noted that this is not the final figure. "We want to add the loss of ecosystem services. We are talking about what we could have received from wildlife if it had not been destroyed by the Russian occupiers. This amount can increase tenfold."

"The largest case of ecocide since the first days of the full-scale invasion was the explosion of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station. At the time when the racists committed this act of terrorism, the damage from the hydroelectric power plant explosion and the destruction of wildlife reached 10% of the total amount of damage at that time. We consider this to be a separate case, and we are separating it into a separate track and, accordingly, working on it separately. The amount of damage caused by the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station explosion exceeded UAH 146 billion, or $4 billion at the time. We understand that we lost 14 cubic kilometres of water - it just went down in a few days, flooding huge areas. According to experts, 50% of the forest that was flooded will die. A large amount of pollutants got into the water: washed away pesticides, agrochemicals, a large amount of garbage, and destruction waste. Also, the ingress of such a large volume of fresh water into the Black Sea definitely has a corresponding impact. After the de-occupation of this territory, we will need to conduct a study of the Black Sea and its impact together with international organisations that are ready for this and have already expressed their readiness. After all, in addition to a large number of pollutants, we also have recorded cases of dolphin deaths. This caused a strong reaction from international partners," said Ruslan Strilets.

Recent attacks on infrastructure and industry sites

On 17 December, at night, Russian terrorists attacked Odesa region with "shaheds". Air defence forces shot down 9 attack UAVs in the region. However, one of the downed drones crashed into a residential area in Odesa district and exploded.

On 20 December, the Kherson region experienced one of the largest attacks. In Kherson and its suburbs, the Russian army attacked a critical infrastructure facility, an educational institution, a post office and warehouse, and a residential building. Six cars and structural elements of a shed were on fire on the territory of the enterprise. There was destruction and subsequent fire in private residential buildings.

Specialists of the State Environmental Inspectorate of the Southern District inspected the areas that had been subjected to hostile shelling in Kherson region.

The inspectors identified areas that had been contaminated with ammunition fragments and demolition waste (including construction waste) with a total area of over 1500 m2.

In addition, soil samples were taken to conduct laboratory tests to determine the content of pollutants.

In addition, recently, as a result of the "Shaheds" attacks, a service station building, hangars, and technical premises were destroyed, metal structures were damaged, and residential buildings had their windows smashed by blast waves and shrapnel, and their facades were damaged.

The inspectors determined that the area was littered with ammunition and demolition debris over a total area of over 560 m2.

On 21 December, the enemy attacked Kyiv region with drones. All enemy drones over the region were shot down. The debris damaged one of the warehouses of a civilian enterprise.

On 29 December, Russia attacked Ukraine with more than 120 missiles. It attacked a maternity hospital, schools, kindergartens, a shopping centre, high-rise buildings and private homes.

At first, the occupiers traditionally attacked with "shaheds" from the north and southeast, followed by a move to the west.

At around 3.00, the enemy launched strategic bombers. In total, 18 aircraft reached the launch line around 6.00 am and launched at least 90 air-launched cruise missiles.

More than 10 “shaheds” attacked the Lviv region, and there was a fire at a critical infrastructure facility. A partial destruction of an administrative building and production workshops was recorded.

In the morning, Lviv region was attacked by 15 missiles. Air defence forces destroyed 10 of them. As a result of the missiles hitting, 7 residential buildings were heavily damaged, and 11 more were damaged to a lesser extent. Two lyceums and a kindergarten were also damaged.

A residential building in the Shevchenkivskyi district of the capital was preliminarily damaged as a result of a rocket attack. There was also a fire on the territory of garages.

In Svyatoshynske, a residential multi-storey building caught fire. At another location, there was a fire in a parked car.

In Podilskyi district, there was a fire in a warehouse.

A residential building was damaged in Darnytskyi district.

The occupiers launched more than 20 attacks on the city of Kharkiv, first with S-300 missiles.

The premises of the Regional Oncology Centre were damaged. A blast wave damaged about 70 windows and the roof of several buildings of the medical centre over an area of 30 square metres.

In addition, 18 missiles were shot down in the sky over Dnipropetrovs'k region, but no hits were avoided. A shopping centre and a maternity hospital were damaged in Dnipro, a private house was destroyed, 8 administrative buildings, at least two dozen high-rise buildings and cars were damaged.

From 07:30 to 08:25, the Russian military launched a massive missile attack on Zaporizhzhia. The enemy targeted the territories of several enterprises in the city. One of the missiles hit an open area, another destroyed a private house. The blast wave and debris damaged high-rise buildings in one of the districts of the regional centre.

Regarding the night attack by drone strikes. In Odesa district, a mothballed building of an infrastructure facility was hit. And in Odesa, the debris of a downed drone damaged a multi-storey building.

After the nighttime drone attack, in the morning, the Russians launched a missile attack on Odesa. The enemy hit civilian homes.

Pollution caused directly by hostilities

According to the State Emergency Service of Ukraine (SESU), from February 24, 2022, to December 29 , 2023, a total of 465,512 explosive objects have been neutralized on the territory of Ukraine. An area of 1135 square kilometers has been surveyed.

The past year has shown that Russia's war in Ukraine is likely to last for a long time. Studying the environmental impact of the war will also be a long-term project and could take decades. After the guns fall silent, it will take time to collect and analyse the data and advocate for the country's environmental recovery. In addition, data collection and any research will be hampered for a long time by the need to demine huge swathes of land and clear former war zones of military debris.

As a result of the invasion of Ukraine by the occupiers, a large part of the forests remain contaminated with explosive ordnance.

The area of forestry land in Kherson region that needs to be surveyed and demined is 40.7 thousand hectares.

With the assistance of the Kherson Regional Military Administration and the support of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine, Velykokopanivske Forestry demined 15.2 hectares of forests. Another 11.3 thousand hectares of the forestry's forests still need to be cleared of mines.

In 1 year and 10 months, the war caused UAH 49 billion 274 million in damage to the environment of Kyiv and the region.

This was reported by the State Environmental Inspectorate of the capital region.

"The greatest damage to the air was caused by the burning of oil depots, commercial warehouses and energy infrastructure facilities - UAH 46 billion 836 million 486 thousand," the statement said.

Also, the land resources of the capital region suffered losses of UAH 2 billion 54 million 690 thousand as a result of contamination and pollution due to the destruction caused by the Russian military aggression.

On 22 December, the United Nations published the Ukraine Common Country Analysis 2023. In Chapter 4.4 Environment and Climate Change Analysis, it is stated that:

"Military operations have also resulted in a sharp increase in the accumulation of waste, including damaged or abandoned military and civilian vehicles, equipment, shell fragments, construction debris, and uncollected household and medical waste. An estimated 10-12 million tonnes of rubbish and construction waste has accumulated across the country due to the conflict.

 Some of the materials are toxic, such as shell fragments, medical waste and construction debris containing asbestos, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and heavy metals, requiring special handling, transportation and disposal."

Damage to natural reserves and protected ecosystems

The nature reserve fund is one of those areas that suffer from the racist invasion, perhaps no less than Ukrainian cities.

"Almost 20% of the protected areas are affected by the war. Unfortunately, there are some that we may lose forever. According to preliminary data, more than 1,200,000 hectares of protected areas need to be surveyed and demined. Despite the war, protected areas are developing. Own revenues have increased. We will do everything to keep the bar high in the coming year 2024. Our mission is to continue working on the conservation and restoration of the reserve fund and to help the Armed Forces," said Ruslan Strilets.

Following the large-scale Russian invasion of Luhansk region, more than 26,000 hectares of forests worth more than 180 billion hryvnias have been destroyed. This was reported by the Luhansk Regional Military Administration.

"The damage to our forests is only growing. According to preliminary estimates, the enemy's artillery, aircraft and heavy flamethrower systems have destroyed more than 26,000 hectares of forests in Luhansk Oblast. The total amount of damage caused by air pollution is already UAH 180,417,427,388 thousand," the RMA said.

This data was made public at a meeting of the Commission to establish the facts of damage and losses to the forest fund of the region as a result of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation.

"The recorded facts of Russian crimes will add to the general list of damage caused by the enemy's actions and will be used to prepare a lawsuit to the International Court of Justice," said Natalia Romanenko, chairman of the commission and deputy head of the Luhansk Regional Military Administration.

The UN analytics "Ukraine Common Country Analysis 2023" also states that:

"Approximately 131 protected areas are fully or partially located in the Russian-occupied territories, making them inaccessible for maintenance and disrupting forest value chains. Industrial deforestation and illegal logging are widespread, further increasing the risk of forest fires."

Damage to freshwater resources

"Today, we have a corresponding burden on water resources - about 750 hydraulic structures on small rivers and other facilities have been destroyed and will need to be restored. I'm talking about small bridge crossings and hydraulic structures that retained water in order to have an appropriate volume of water," Ruslan Strilets said in an exclusive interview with Ukrainian Radio.

Black and Azov Seas

Due to the military actions of the occupiers on the coast of the Azov Sea in the temporarily occupied Melitopol district of Zaporizhzhia region, a massive bird death occurred. This was announced by the director of the Azov National Nature Park, Dmytro Volovyk.

According to him, a Russian military training ground is located on Fedotova Spit.

"The Russian military recently killed a lot of birds because they started firing mortars. This is just the aggression of the occupiers... I can't say exactly how many died, because we can't record it ourselves. But they died en masse," Dmytro Volovyk emphasised.

Most of the birds that died are coots and ducks, as well as Red Book geese and swans:

"The fact is that they were all blown up by the east wind under the Atmanai dam, and a lot of bird carcasses were thrown there, including the insides. The birds had calm water there, and they grouped in very large numbers... We wouldn't have known it, but because of the wind, they were blown away and we noticed a pile of bird corpses on the dam. If it had been a different wind, no one would have known."

Ukraine War Environmental Consequences Work Group has published the results of the year for the Ukrainian environment, which states that:

"The overall environmental burden on the Black Sea has increased several times since the start of hostilities, leading to an increase in existing levels of water pollution as a result of chemical discharges into major rivers, including the Dnipro, Danube and Don."

And also according to experts - "The worst fears - pollution and desalination of the Black Sea due to the influx of significant volumes of fresh water from the Dnipro - fortunately did not materialise. The marine ecosystem has absorbed this shock."

However, it is too early to draw such conclusions, as the consequences may manifest themselves over time.

Previous Reports

Previous reports of the Ministry of the Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine on environmental crimes committed by russian troops since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine are available here.