Briefing on the environmental damage caused by the russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine (March 23 – April 5, 2024)

On 27 March, Ruslan Strilets, Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine, together with his colleagues from the International Working Group on the Environmental Consequences of War and its co-chair, former Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallström, presented the Environmental Treaty for Ukraine to members of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Environmental Policy and Nature Management and its chairman, Oleh Bondarenko.

"Post-war recovery is possible only in unity. Our goal is to talk about the environment in times of war to the whole world and to be a good example in the international arena. To this end, a number of tools have already been created as part of the umbrella of Point 8 of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's Peace Formula, including the Environmental Compact, a handbook for green recovery. It contains 50 recommendations for Ukraine and the international community that embody a unified approach to assessing the environmental impact of the Russian war in Ukraine, define approaches to compensation for damage, and suggestions for "green" recovery," said Ruslan Strilets.

On 28 March, a regular round of Ukrainian-Polish governmental consultations took place, during which Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources Ruslan Strilets held a bilateral meeting with Minister of Climate and Environment of Poland Paulina Hennig-Kloska and her team.

"Every day, Ukraine suffers significant environmental damage caused by the Russian war in Ukraine. That is why the support of our closest allies in our country's pursuit of justice and European integration is a crucial factor in confronting the global challenges of today, especially in the context of the current war," said Ruslan Strilets.

Among the key topics discussed by Minister Ruslan Strilets with Minister Paulina Hennig-Kloska:

●       Poland's accession to the Environmental Declaration, which was presented in October 2023;

●       Strengthening cooperation between Ukraine and Poland under Point 8 of the Peace Formula;

●       Reaching an agreement to conclude an Intergovernmental Agreement on the implementation of the Espoo Convention soon.

Nuclear and radiation safety threats

Experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency, who are on the site of the temporarily occupied plant, heard the sound of gunfire near Zaporizhzhia NPP, probably from incoming artillery fire. This is stated in the IAEA report of 28 March 2024.

In addition, representatives of the mission heard small arms shots several times, and an air raid alarm went off at the site.

The Agency also notes that it has not yet gained access to all areas important for nuclear safety.

Recent attacks on infrastructure and industry sites

On 25 March, Russian terrorists struck the capital with ballistic missiles. Unfortunately, there was damage to buildings in the regular urban area.

A Russian missile destroyed part of the building of the Boychuk Academy of Decorative and Applied Arts and Design.

On 27 March, the enemy struck Kharkiv for the first time with a large-calibre guided munition. The first hit was on a secondary school, and the second hit was right in the middle of residential buildings.

On 29 March, the Kaniv and Dniester hydroelectric power plants were deliberately targeted by the enemy.

"The terrorist country wants to repeat the environmental disaster in the Kherson region. But now not only Ukraine but also Moldova is under threat. The water will not stop before the border pillars, and neither will the Russian war, unless we stop it in Ukraine together and in time," President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

The enemy also attacked three DTEK thermal power plants, severely damaging the equipment.

On 1 April, at night in the Kharkiv region, the enemy once again attacked a fire and rescue unit of the State Emergency Service.

It happened in a settlement bordering the aggressor country.

One of the hits came directly at the building of the fire and rescue unit. As a result of the shelling, one-third of the fire station building was destroyed. In addition, the windows and gates of the facade, internal partitions and doors of the building were damaged.  

On 2 April, the enemy attacked Dnipro. The attack destroyed a kindergarten, a college and an enterprise. A fire broke out on the territory of the enterprise, covering an area of 150 square metres.

On 4 April, Russians attacked residential areas of Kharkiv with shaheds. One of the drones hit a 14-storey building. Three rescuers were killed in a second attack in another area of the city.

Also, on 4 April at night, the occupiers shelled the village of Poniativka for three hours. After the shelling, residents began to complain of vision and breathing problems.

A total of 10 people were hospitalized with signs of poisoning.

Pollution caused directly by hostilities

According to the State Emergency Service of Ukraine (SESU), from February 24, 2022, to April 5, 2024, a total of 481,087 explosive objects have been neutralized on the territory of Ukraine. An area of 1244 square kilometres has been surveyed.

The scale of demining in Ukraine is comparable to the demining of the whole of Europe after 1945. This is how the UN assesses the situation.

The Russian invasion has made Ukraine the most heavily mined country in the world. In addition, Ukrainians regularly find mines from the Second World War in the forests. According to UNDP Ukraine, Europe has been dealing with mine clearance for 15 years after the end of the war. Ukraine has a chance to solve 75-80% of the problem in the next 3-5 years.

In addition to posing a direct threat to human life, mines pose a danger to the environment.

●       Mine detonations often lead to fires. Fires in remote areas are difficult to extinguish quickly.

●       Explosions cause chemical contamination of the soil that will persist for many years.

●       Mine contamination significantly reduces opportunities for environmental management.

●       Wild and domestic animals often fall on mines.

●       Total change of ecosystems. After the war, the number of invasive plant species will increase due to the large area of disturbed territories.

Due to a Russian drone attack on Zaporizhzhya, an area of more than 240 m² was contaminated with demolition waste.

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

The environmental inspectors inspected two districts of Zaporizhzhia that were damaged as a result of the Russian attack on the city on 28 March this year.

The State Environmental Inspectorate also identified potential soil contamination in the city of Zaporizhzhia as a result of a Russian massive missile attack on 22 March 2024.

As a result of the Russian army's massive missile attack on 22 March on the territory of Zaporizhzhya, the State Environmental Inspectorate inspectors recorded potential soil contamination over an area of more than 140 square metres.

Damage to natural reserves and protected ecosystems

The war in Ukraine is threatening the Danube Biosphere Reserve, according to a study published by a working group on the environmental consequences of the war in Ukraine.

Although only 25% of the Danube Delta falls within Ukraine's borders, it is an important area and is sometimes referred to as the "European Amazon" for its diversity of plants, birds, animals, fish and invertebrates.

The Danube Nature Reserve is an area of enchanting and distinctive beauty, but since 2023 it has been impossible to access it from the Ukrainian side. Access was restricted for a reason: in 2022, Ukraine fought for control of Zmiinyi Island, and enemy landing reconnaissance groups also entered the Danube.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 forced Ukraine to look for additional logistical solutions, renewing a long-standing dispute between Ukraine and Romania over deepening the Danube estuary and its use for shipping.

However, according to Yevhen Simonov, an expert in river protection at the UWEC working group, the creation of main shipping routes through the reserve is unacceptable. As he explains, the whole point of creating nature reserves is to ensure that natural ecosystem processes take place without human intervention as much as possible – this is the essence of this form of nature conservation.

At the special conference, environmentalists spoke about the impact of Russian armed aggression on Ukraine's environment and the possibilities for its restoration.

If you look at the map of Ukraine, you will see that the largest number of nature reserve areas (NRAs) are located on the borders. And they are the ones that have suffered the most from the war.

"We all remember our beautiful national parks: the Crimean 'Magic Harbour', the Yalta Mountain and Forest Reserve... In the absence of information, we cannot even imagine their current state," said Oleg Bondarenko, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Environmental Policy and Nature Management.

The need to build fortifications also affects protected areas. After all, in 2022, the Verkhovna Rada was forced to adopt a law that allowed the creation of a protective strip on the state border, taking away a significant part of the protected areas.

According to Oleksiy Vasyliuk and Viktor Parkhomenko, experts from the Ukrainian Nature Conservation Group, the large-scale minefields surrounding the area damaged by trench construction threaten to leave it in this form for many decades after the war ends. And dugouts and other Russian fortifications are causing irreparable damage to our landscapes.

Damage to freshwater resources

One-third of the Mykolaiv region remains mined. SES engineers are finding ammunition on the ground and in the water.

In total, there are 10 pyrotechnic departments. One of them clears the region's water bodies using underwater devices and drones.

"The difficulty of this area of demining is that there is an underwater current, and the quality of the bottom makes it difficult to see. Some of the types of ammunition that have fallen into the water need to be destroyed on the spot, etc.", the SES noted.

Black and Azov Seas

The number of dead dolphins found in the temporarily occupied Crimea is increasing. In particular, in March 2024, more than fifty marine mammal strandings were recorded.

This was reported on 28 March by the Centre for the Study, Rescue and Rehabilitation of Marine Mammals of the occupiers.

"Over the past 6 days alone, there have been 22 of them, most of them found on the coast from the northern side of Sevastopol to Mykolaivka. Our volunteers and we managed to examine 6 dolphins in between taking care of Kimmy. The majority of the animals recorded were bottlenose dolphins, but we also found one bottlenose dolphin – a young female of approximately the same age as Kimmy. Some of the dead animals showed signs of bycatch in the net," the report says.

Source - https://ecozagroza.gov.ua/en/news/144