Desolate lands. What will be the nature of Ukraine after the war

Since the beginning of the war, Russian troops have been shelling oil depots and large industrial facilities throughout Ukraine. Heavy metals from shells and military equipment enter the soil and groundwater. Fires in forests and steppes destroy the natural environment of rare species.

The war mercilessly destroys all nature – air, water, land, plants and animals suffer.

The capture and shelling of nuclear power plants, the placement of equipment there, and the detonation of ammunition threaten a man-made catastrophe that will make the surrounding territories unfit for human life.

All these actions are crimes against the environment, or ecocide, explains Evgenia Zasyadko, head of the climate department of the public association “Ekodiya”.

“This is not only about damage to nature, but also about people. This war can cause many deaths in the future due to water and soil pollution, due to landmines.” Yevgenia Zasyadko. In international law, intentional damage to the natural environment is considered a war crime. The expert is sure that Russia will bear responsibility for this. The Minister of Environmental Protection, Ruslan Strelets, said that Ukraine could become the first country in the world to receive reparations for crimes against the environment. The damage that Russia has caused to Ukraine’s ecology already amounts to hundreds of billions of hryvnias, the minister said. He noted that the ministry, together with ecologists, is carefully collecting the evidence base of ecocrimes – photos, videos, testimonies of people. “Ekodia” has already recorded more than 200 ecocides. The largest number of these crimes occurred in Kyiv Oblast, Slobozhan Oblast, Donetsk Oblast, and southern Ukraine. However, almost all regions of Ukraine suffer from the actions of the Russian military, says Yevgenia Zasyadko. And the full picture of environmental damage will be available only after the war.