Briefing on the environmental damage caused by the russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine (February 10 - February 23, 2024)

The Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine, together with WWF-Ukraine and other partners, opened an exhibition at Ukrinform to mark the second anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The exhibition is about finding the historical connection between Ukrainians and nature and our identity, which Russia is trying to destroy today.

"Today, a fifth of Ukraine's protected areas have been affected by the hostilities. The damage caused to the protected areas of Ukraine over the two years of the full-scale invasion has already amounted to UAH 7.3 billion. And this is only what we can estimate now. This does not include the unique protected areas that are still occupied. After their release by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the damage will unfortunately only increase," said First Deputy Minister Oleksandr Krasnolutskyi at the exhibition opening.

Today, more than UAH 2.2 trillion of total environmental damage due to hostilities has been recorded. However, no amount of money can capture nature's value for Ukrainians. The way Ukrainians have interacted with nature for centuries has shaped us as a people and made us who we are. The way we take care of the environment in times of war will determine the legacy of future generations. And this exhibition is about this relationship.

Also, Ukraine is starting to collect evidence of Russian war crimes against the environment on the online platform Svidok.org, as well as preparing a large-scale online campaign to disseminate evidence of ecocide abroad.

Svidok.org starts an all-Ukrainian collection of evidence of Russian war crimes against the environment in Ukraine for a large-scale international campaign by the AI for Good charity foundation and the Sunflower Collective initiative to draw attention to ecocide.

The Svidok.org platform calls on Ukrainians to report crimes against the environment that they have witnessed:

●     air or water pollution;

●     contamination of Ukrainian territories with mines and other shells;

●     the threat of extinction of hundreds of species of animals and plants due to loss of habitat;

●     killing of animals;

●     massive deaths of dolphins and other flora and fauna as a result of hostilities in the Black Sea;

●     attacks on oil refineries;

●     blowing up the Nova Kakhovka dam;

●     disturbance of radioactive dust in the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone;

●     attacks or seizures of nuclear power plants;

●     environmental disaster at a poultry farm in the Kherson region.

In addition, all the collected evidence of war crimes will be handed over to law enforcement agencies to bring the perpetrators to justice.

Nuclear and radiation safety threats

The situation at the temporarily occupied Zaporizhzhya NPP is becoming more dangerous.

This was said by Energoatom CEO Petro Kotin in his column for Ekonomichna Pravda.

Firstly, he noted, the invaders are mining the perimeter of the plant, and continue to keep heavy equipment with ammunition in the turbine halls and weapons on the roofs of power units.

Secondly, another threat has emerged at ZNPP: the six-year period allowed by the manufacturer for nuclear fuel in the reactors, the first batches loaded in 2017, is about to expire.

"No one in the world has ever exceeded the six-year period set by the manufacturers. No one knows how the fuel will behave beyond this period," said Petro Kotin.

"There is only one way to restore the safety system: to return ZNPP to Ukraine and its operator, Energoatom. This is Ukraine's position and the mechanism for restoring nuclear and radiation safety, as well as the mechanism for preventing further emergencies at Zaporizhzhya NPP, enshrined in numerous IAEA decisions.

Recent attacks on infrastructure and industry sites

On 15 February, the enemy launched a massive missile attack across Ukraine.

In Lviv, there was a hit to an infrastructure facility. A few facilities of the regional power company, including a transformer substation, were severely damaged. The blast wave damaged 19 residential buildings, two schools, and a kindergarten.

In Chuhuiv, Kharkiv region, a residential building was destroyed, and 3 private houses were damaged. Window glazing and roofs were damaged in 7 buildings.

There was a hit to an infrastructure facility in Zaporizhzhia. Apartment blocks, an educational institution, and a commercial building were damaged.

In the Poltava region, a warehouse in Myrhorod district was hit, setting off a 100 m² fire.

In the Kyiv region, the debris of downed missiles landed in 2 localities: 7 houses, several outbuildings, and a car were damaged.

On 17 February, the occupiers attacked Sloviansk and Kramatorsk.

Three rockets were fired at Kramatorsk, hitting the industrial area and the private sector. Two houses were destroyed and 23 more were damaged. A family of 4 is likely to be trapped under the rubble of one of the houses.  A shell hit a school in Sloviansk.

On 23 February, at night, Russians attacked Ukraine with kamikaze drones.

Odesa region - 3 people were killed under the rubble of a civilian enterprise in the seaside area, the enemy fired "shaheds" and missiles of the X-31P and X-22 type.

Dnipro - 8 people were injured as a result of a hit to a high-rise building.

Pollution caused directly by hostilities

According to the State Emergency Service of Ukraine (SESU), from February 24, 2022, to  February 23, 2024, a total of 471,616 explosive objects have been neutralized on the territory of Ukraine. An area of 2750 square kilometres has been surveyed.

On 15 February 2024, Zaporizhzhia woke up without coffee.

A green zone in one of the city's districts came under enemy fire. Inspectors promptly inspected the area.

It was found that the area contaminated by the destruction waste was more than 5,000 m2. The rocket crater reaches 68 m2 and is about 3 metres deep.

Specialists from the State Environmental Inspectorate of the Southern District, together with the Security Service of Ukraine, took soil samples for further laboratory analysis.

Damage to natural reserves and protected ecosystems

A huge sinkhole was created on the territory of the Bucha community during a missile attack on 15 February 2024. Environmental inspectors went to the site to record the environmental damage.

It is noted that the sinkhole is 6 meters deep and 14 meters in diameter.

A total of 700 pine, oak, and birch trees under 12 years old were destroyed over 2,000 square meters.

The destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station dam had the greatest environmental impact during Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, according to a report by the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission published on 22 February, following two years of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The flooding destroyed more than 11,000 hectares of forest land and damaged natural habitats, causing chemical contamination of these areas and irreversible consequences for biodiversity.

Among the damaged areas are critical ecosystems, including:

●     five areas included in the Ramsar List (List of Wetlands of International Importance),

●     12 areas of the Emerald Network (according to the Bern Convention on the Protection of Wild Flora and Fauna and Natural Habitats in Europe).

"All of these impacts will seriously violate the right to an adequate standard of living and the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, both in the short and long term," the UN report says.

However, in an interview with Suspilne, Vadym Manyuk, an ecologist from Dnipro, said that the bottom of the Kakhovka reservoir is turning into a forest.

"In fact, the entire water area of the former reservoir, which is now the drained bottom, is a grey zone, it is completely inaccessible for research. The last observations made in November and early December showed that the trees that grew there were young trees of the first year, their buds have formed. In winter, they have winter bark, which means that these trees will survive the winter, and in the spring they will give a good new shoot, new growth, and will continue to develop," says the ecologist.

He noted that in spring, lush vegetation should be expected on the reservoir's territory. So, there will likely be a massive arrival of new birds that will remain on the nesting grounds.

According to Vadym Maniuk, more animals, ground insects, and invertebrates will appear. In other words, the ecosystem will gradually improve and develop. If we leave the floodplains to develop on their own, in 10-20 years there will be sufficiently complete and diverse ecosystems: deciduous forests, meadows, water bodies of various types, and sandbanks. Real thickets where life will be in full swing.

Damage to freshwater resources

As a result of a Russian attack on the company's tanks in the Nemyshlyansky district, oil products leaked into the ecosystem. According to preliminary data, about 3,000 tonnes of products were released into the environment.

This was reported by the press service of the regional administration.

On 12 February, specialists of the State Ecological Inspectorate in Kharkiv Oblast took water samples at 9 objects in Kharkiv and the region, namely in the Udy River. The samples were sent for rapid testing to the Ukrainian Research Institute of Environmental Problems to determine the level of contamination and the presence of harmful substances.

According to the State Ecological Inspectorate of the Kharkiv Region, oil products spilled into the Nemyshlya River and further downstream entered the Lopan, Udy, and Kharkiv Rivers.

On 15 February, during a national marathon broadcast "Yedyni Novyny" (United News), Minister Ruslan Strilets said that the damage caused by oil pollution as a result of the attack on the oil depot in Kharkiv amounted to about UAH 30 million.

"Oil has contaminated the soil and water bodies around the area of the damage. We have the first preliminary estimates of the damage. They amount to about UAH 30 million. Additional analyses and samples are needed to make the final estimate," he said.

Black and Azov Seas

By the order of the Cabinet of Ministers on 11 October 2021, the Marine Environmental Strategy of Ukraine was approved, which is valid until 2034.

"Today, due to the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, active hostilities, including in the territories of Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv, Odesa, and Kherson regions, which are constantly bombed, the implementation of the measures planned by the Operational Plan (Roadmap) and the implementation of the Strategy is impossible. Also, the Strategy was amended to develop and submit an action plan to achieve and maintain the "good" environmental status of the Azov and Black Seas within six months after the termination or cancellation of martial law by the government, which will be implemented in the relevant periods," the press service of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine told UWN.

The Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine added that the strategic objectives of the marine environmental policy and priority tasks are aimed at achieving and maintaining the "good" ecological status of the Black and Azov Seas following the Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 June 2008 establishing the framework for the Community action in the field of environmental policy concerning the marine environment, taking into account paragraphs 6 and 14 of the Sustainable Development Goals of Ukraine for the period up to 2030.

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