Briefing on the environmental damage caused by the russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine (December 2 - December 15, 2023)

Nature has no borders, so if we don't stop the Russian ecocide in Ukraine now, the consequences may be inevitable. Therefore, the world can no longer stand aside, and nature can no longer be a silent hostage and collateral damage caused by Russia's armed aggression.‍

High-Level Working Group on the Environmental Consequences of the War in Ukraine in the European Parliament discussed the impact of Russian aggression in Ukraine on the environment.

The hearings focused on the environmental consequences of the war, accountability for crimes against the environment, and a strategy for "green" recovery of Ukraine. The public hearings brought together a wide range of participants. Among them were representatives of the Ukrainian government, leading international experts, civil society representatives and European politicians.

Environmental damage from the war is not a secondary consequence of the occupiers' actions.

The participants agreed that Russia is deliberately conducting military operations that have a direct impact on the environment, destroying and damaging it.

On December 3, the Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine Ruslan Strilets officially opened the work of the national pavilion at the UN Climate Change Conference in Dubai (COP28).

This is the second time in history when Ukraine has presented its pavilion at the UN Climate Change Conference. The focus of Ukraine's pavilion in 2023 is on the 8th point of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's Peace Formula, "Environmental Security".

"This year, we are talking about the catastrophic consequences of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant explosion. We are talking about our struggle against environmental challenges due to the war. As in spite of everything. Even today. We are working on green reconstruction. I hope that next year at the COP we will talk only about climate achievements and green recovery of the country. We invite the world to come to its senses and support the President's Peace Formula and its 10 universal rules for the entire planet. I thank the entire team and partners that Ukraine has its pavilion at the conference for the second time. I am confident that it will become a powerful platform for quality communication with all countries of the world to engage them in our initiatives," Ruslan Strilets addressed the COP28 participants.

Visitors attended the Ukrainian Pavilion at COP28 and expressed their support:

Keith Kasemets, Secretary General of the Estonian Ministry of Climate, visited the Ukrainian Pavilion and expressed his support.

He stated that Estonia fully supports the Environmental Declaration and reaffirms that Russia must be held accountable for the environmental damage caused by the war in Ukraine.

Minister of Energy of Moldova Victor Parlicov. He stated that Moldova fully supports the Environmental Declaration and confirms that Russia should be held accountable for the environmental damage caused by the war in Ukraine.  

"Without Ukraine's resilience, we would live in a completely different world. Including Moldova. Ukraine managed to withstand and continues to deter Russian armed aggression, and our security depends on it. That is why we are grateful for this," Victor Parlikov said.

John Kerry, Special Representative of the President of the United States for Climate Change.

The traditional topic of discussion with Mr. Kerry is the impact of the hostilities on the environment and the US assistance in our fight against the Russian occupiers.

Together with John Kerry, Samantha Power, Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, Martina Strong, U.S. Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, and Bonnie Jenkins, Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, visited the pavilion.

Amos Hochstein, Senior Advisor for Energy Security at the U.S. Department of State.

He observed the pavilion's key installation dedicated to the tragedy of losing a home to flooding - The Roof. It shows thousands of destroyed Ukrainian homes.

To create it, the organizers brought tiles from the Kherson region, whose residents felt the consequences of the Kakhovka HPP explosion.

European Commissioner for Climate Action Wopke Hoekstra.

"I am impressed by the courage and endurance of the Ukrainian people. Even despite the full-scale war, your country is doing its best to ensure the country's sustainable development and fulfill its climate commitments," the European Commissioner said.

International partners support Ukraine and are ready to join the Environmental Declaration.

Minister Ruslan Strilets discussed the draft document with international colleagues in the Ukrainian pavilion on the sidelines of COP28.

"We want this international platform to unite everyone - from countries to international organizations, individual politicians and experts. Anyone who wants to work together to calculate environmental damage and bring those responsible to justice," said Ruslan Strilets.

Moldova, Bulgaria, Sweden and the Czech Republic, Italy, New Zealand, etc. have already expressed their preliminary readiness to join this work.

The minister expressed hope that as many countries as possible will join the Declaration and contribute to the joint work on protecting the environment from military operations.

"Russian missiles may not reach your country, but birds from Ukraine do. Their number is decreasing every day due to the large-scale destruction of nature reserves, forest fires and the destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant. The oil and chemicals that got into Ukrainian rivers may remain in the Black Sea. But you will not be able to control the origin of the food, the fish your children eat before dinner. If we don't act together now, we all risk replacing marine life with mines, missiles and their fragments tomorrow," emphasized Ruslan Strilets

Also, on the sidelines of the COP28, Minister Ruslan Strilets and Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Steve Barkley signed a Memorandum of Cooperation.

It will take at least 80 years to restore Ukraine's burnt forests. Ruslan Strilets told his colleagues what Ukraine is already doing in this direction.

The British partners support such steps and are ready to share their expertise. The importance of continuing work on recording the facts of environmental damage caused by the war was also noted.

Ruslan Strilets invited his colleagues to visit Ukraine next year to see firsthand the impact of Russian aggression on wildlife and to detail the areas of further work between the teams.

Recent attacks on infrastructure and industry sites

Every day, the unbreakable city of Kherson suffers from the occupiers' attacks. On December 5, the enemy launched another missile attack on the city.

Specialists of the State Ecological Inspectorate of the Southern District inspected the areas that had been subjected to enemy shelling.

The inspectors determined that the area near the cinema building and adjacent residential buildings was littered with ammunition and demolition debris over a total area of more than 100 m2.

On December 8, in the evening, the Russian army shelled Kherson again.

"They hit a private enterprise. Warehouses and a car were damaged, and products were destroyed.

On December 11, the Russian occupiers fired 8 ballistic missiles at the Kyiv region. The strike was launched from the north, previously from the Bryansk region of the Russian Federation. All targets were destroyed.

During the repulsion of the missile attack, missile fragments fell in the Darnytskyi district of the Kyiv. The missile fragment was found on the territory of a store and warehouse.

On December 13, the Russians fired with S-400 anti-aircraft guided missiles and Iskander cruise missiles.

Air defense forces managed to shoot down all targets, but missile debris fell in four districts of the capital:

Holosiivskyi district: the debris fell on the road;

Darnytskyi district: a 400 m² private house caught fire;

Desnianskyi district: a fragment caused a fire on the 7th floor of a 9-storey residential building, and 8 cars in the yard of the building were on fire.

Dniprovsky district: the blast wave smashed windows in two residential buildings, 1 private house caught fire and 3 other houses were damaged by debris, but without fire. There is damage to the water supply network, according to the KMVA.

Also, on December 13, a downed Shahed fell on the territory of a municipal car repair enterprise in Odesa. A hangar was destroyed, 11 civilian cars were damaged, and 3 burned to the ground.

This attack by enemy UAVs launched from the temporarily occupied Crimea in Odesa region was aimed at civilian infrastructure in the region.

In Odesa district, the fragments of another downed drone damaged a port infrastructure building.

Pollution caused directly by hostilities

According to the State Emergency Service of Ukraine (SESU), from February 24, 2022, to December 15 , 2023, a total of 462,609 explosive objects have been neutralized on the territory of Ukraine. An area of 1120 square kilometers has been surveyed.

Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the Russian military has caused nearly 15 billion hryvnias in environmental damage to Zaporizhzhia region.

This was reported by the State Environmental Inspectorate of the Southern District.

The inspectorate is calculating damages for:

soil contamination;

land contamination with construction waste;

contamination by fragments of missile warheads and shells.

On the sidelines of the COP28, the Ministry of Environment, together with the Initiative for Accounting for Greenhouse Gas Emissions from War and the NGO Ecoaction, presented data from the third interim study of climate damage caused by the Russian war in Ukraine.

According to Deputy Minister Viktoriia Kyreieva, the total climate damage that Russia has caused and must compensate for is estimated at over $11 billion. Total emissions after 18 months of war are estimated at 150 million tons of CO2e. This exceeds the annual emissions of a highly developed country like Belgium.

The authors of the study estimate the emissions from the fighting at 37 million tons of CO2e. Another 22.2 million tons were caused by fires, which increased 36 times during the first year of full-scale war compared to the 12 months before the invasion.

Damage to natural reserves and protected ecosystems

The occupiers have once again blatantly violated the norms of international environmental conventions. Hostile publics are spreading information that the occupation administration of the park has illegally exchanged animals between the Askania Nova Biosphere Reserve, the Rostovskyi Nature Biosphere Reserve, and the Wildlife of the Steppe Association for the Conservation and Restoration of Rare and Endangered Species.

The Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine Ruslan Strilets announced this on his Facebook page.

Several individuals of Chapman's zebra, American bison, Przewalski's horses and David's deer were taken from the Askania zoo. All of these species are endangered and listed in the IUCN Red List with the status of "extinct," "endangered," and "near threatened."

Instead, the Askania-Nova Zoo received domesticated Kanna antelopes, yaks, two-humped camels and one guanaco.

During the three-month occupation of the Sviatohirsk community, Russians destroyed the infrastructure of the Krasnopilsk forestry: administrative buildings were destroyed, equipment was smashed, and trees in the forest were destroyed.

According to Oleksandr Rohinsky, a forester at the Krasnopilsk forestry, most of the forests in the Krasnopilsk forestry are mined. The total area is 4,388 hectares, of which 2,500 hectares are part of the Holy Mountains National Park.

The administrative building is shattered, with a hole in the roof after a bomb arrived in the first days of the full-scale war, said the forester.

In the forestry's outbuildings, the Russians slept and dug holes for shelter.

Famous Spanish photographer Daniel Beltro has unveiled his photo project about ecocide in Ukraine.

The main goal of the project is to publicize the catastrophic consequences of the Russian occupation war for the Ukrainian environment, namely environmental crimes, including those caused to forest resources and nature reserves.

During the trip to Kharkiv region, the damaged and destroyed facilities in the territory of the Izyum district were demonstrated:

The Oskil reservoir, which is a regional landscape park, was completely destroyed;

Coniferous and hardwood plantations of Borivske forestry of the Kupyansk Forestry State Enterprise were destroyed;

The complex natural monument "Mount Kremianets" was damaged;

The office, woodworking and repair and transportation shops, and forest fire station of the Izyum Forestry Enterprise were damaged;

The forest areas of the State Enterprise "Izyum Forestry" that were affected by the fire.

Damage to freshwater resources

Water cannot be a weapon. It must be an instrument of peace.

This was emphasized by Deputy Minister for European Integration Yevhenii Fedorenko during a panel discussion on the sidelines of the COP28.

"Ukraine clearly understands that international waters require international rules. Therefore, even despite the war, we continue to strengthen cross-border cooperation to solve water problems. At the same time, our country is experiencing constant Russian attacks on water bodies and infrastructure. The destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant dam was the largest terrorist attack since the Chornobyl accident. More than 700,000 people were left without access to water. The consequences will be felt for many years to come," said Yevhenii Fedorenko.

Meanwhile, in the Russian-occupied Mariupol, a blockage was built across the Kalchyk River, part of which was covered with earth and slag. Such actions may cause a fish pestilence in the river.

This is stated in a statement by the Mariupol City Council.

"Due to the barbaric construction methods, most of the river is simply covered," the city council said.

Black and Azov Seas

During a briefing at the Ukraine-Odesa media center, Ivan Rusev, head of the scientific department of the Tuzly Estuaries National Nature Park, Doctor of Biological Sciences, said that 50,000 dolphins died in the Black Sea as a result of Russia's attack on Ukraine, and some birds left the protected areas and never returned to Odesa region.

According to him, since February 24, 2022, the Russian occupiers have caused enormous damage to nature. The dolphins suffered the most, thousands of them died - their corpses were found on the territory of the Tuzly Estuaries, beaches of Odesa, etc.

He added that this year the park staff observed dolphins that died, most likely due to enemy bombing in the area of the Kinburn Spit in Mykolaiv region, from where the current carries the corpses to Odesa region.

The scientist also said that there are many unexploded ordnance in the protected area - in estuaries and the Black Sea - which is a big problem.

"We need to do a lot to clear the water area of mines. Since the beginning of the invasion, shells have been flying into the estuaries and getting stuck in the silt. They need to be removed and neutralized. In addition, there are still mines in the Black Sea..."

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.