Some animal species will be impossible to restore — ecologist on environmental damage from Russian aggression

The most acute environmental loss due to Russian military aggression is the loss of biodiversity, especially among the animal world.

This was stated by the head of the public association “All-Ukrainian Ecological League” Tetyana Tymochko.

Earlier, the Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources Svitlana Hrynchuk said that the damage to the environment of Ukraine from full-scale Russian aggression is already estimated at over 70 billion dollars. Thus, 3 million hectares of forests have been destroyed, more than 6,500 environmental crimes and 180 million tons of CO₂ emissions have been recorded.

Tymochko says that the damage suffered by Ukrainian nature is recorded in a single register of environmental damage due to Russian armed aggression. It is filled with the joint efforts of the State Ecological Inspectorate of Ukraine, scientists, and public activists. According to the expert, this allows us to record the maximum amount of damage in the correct way. Then, Ukraine can include these facts of damage in materials for European and world institutions to receive compensation.

As for the damage to nature itself, the most acute is the loss of biodiversity, namely, living creatures, says the head of the All-Ukrainian Ecological League.

“Forests can be restored. That is, military operations will end, the territory will be demined, and then we will be able to actually restore forests. But when we talk about living creatures, about damage to components of living ecosystems, then there is a problem. Because such damage is sometimes very strong, and sometimes irreparable,” says Tymochko.

In April 2023, the then Deputy Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine, Yevgeny Fedorenko, reported that about 600 animal species were under threat of extinction due to a full-scale Russian invasion.

Tymochko says that when the Russians blew up the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station, hundreds of thousands of different species of birds and animals died due to the movement of water. Ukraine had 50 to 70% of the world population of some of those species. This, she says, is irreparable damage to biodiversity.

“These populations, some species, will be impossible to restore at all. That is, they will be lost forever not only for Ukraine, but also for the whole world. And if there is such an opportunity, the creation of certain conditions for restoration, it will take hundreds of years. This is what I see as the most important tragic impact of Russian armed aggression on the environment of Ukraine,” Tymochko comments.