More than 30 pages in Ukrainian and English show how hostilities, occupation and deliberate destruction of all living things by russia are damaging the ecosystems of Ukraine and the continent.

“Over the 512 days of the great war, our experts have already recorded about 2,500 crimes against the environment by the occupiers. The losses amount to more than UAH 2 trillion. This is, for example, more than the GDP of Latvia in 2022,” said Oleksandr Krasnolutskyi, First Deputy Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine, at a press conference to present the study.

As Minister Ruslan Strilets noted earlier, one day of war causes environmental damage worth EUR 102 million or UAH 4 billion. And this does not include the russian federation’s ecocide at the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant.

With the destruction of the Kakhovka reservoir alone, Ukraine lost 18 billion cubic metres of water. Such actions by the russians fall squarely within the definition of ecocide. This amount of water would be enough to water the entire population of the world for two days. Today, Ukraine’s largest reservoir is undergoing changes. The Nyzhniodniprovskyi, Velykyi Luh and Kamianska Sich national parks are facing a gradual and long recovery.

“Point 8 of Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Peace Formula provides for the cessation of ecocide and compensation to Ukraine for environmental damage. And the process of implementing this point has already begun. On 30 June, the Presidential Office hosted the first meeting of the International Working Group on the Environmental Consequences of War. The working group will focus on assessing the impact of the war on the environment, ecological restoration and mechanisms for bringing the aggressor to justice,” said Oleksandr Krasnolutskyi.

In order to draw the world’s attention to the environmental consequences of the war, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources has supported the preparation of an infographic study. It is intended for journalists, government officials, representatives of NGOs – those who make decisions to support Ukraine or advocate for such decisions, and talk about the war in Ukraine.

We thank our colleagues at Top Lead and our partners for producing the first infographic guide on environmental damage. The more the world knows about the consequences of the war and supports Ukraine, the faster the Victory will come.

The study is available here.