Russians cause over US$35 billion worth of damage to Ukraine’s ecology

Ukrainian Minister of Defence Oleksii Reznikov reported that the Russian occupiers caused damage to the Ukrainian ecology in the amount of US£35.3 billion. Source: Reznikov on Twitter Quote: "The damage to the ecology caused by Russia is estimated at £35.3 billion.

Millions of hectares of nature reserves are under threat. Article 55 of the Protocol I [of the European Convention on Human Rights - ed.] prohibits waging war against the natural environment by way of repressions, but Russia doesn't care."

Background:

• As a result of the Russian full-scale invasion into Ukraine, significant damage was caused to the soil, in particular, to agricultural land.
• According to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as of 13 December 2022, 174,000 square kilometres of Ukrainian territory are contaminated with mines and unexploded ammunition. The water area of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov is also contaminated with mines and has lost hundreds of thousands of living creatures who died as a result of the hostilities and the activity of the Russian Navy.
• Dozens of rivers are polluted.

  Hundreds of coal mines are flooded.

  Dozens of the most hazardous enterprises, including chemical ones, have been destroyed by Russian strikes.

• Three million hectares of forest in Ukraine were affected by the hostilities.

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