russians damaged Ukraine’s environment to at least UAH 202 billion

Since the beginning of the full-scale war, russian occupiers have caused at least UAH 202 billion of damage to the environment throughout Ukraine.

Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources Ruslan Strilets said this at the briefing with Virginijus Sinkevičius, European Commissioner for the Environment, on 23 June, Ukrainska Pravda reports.

According to the Minister, over 250 cases of ecocide have been recorded for four months of the war.

"Every day, together with the State Environmental Inspection, we record all the damage caused by the occupiers. Now more than 250 cases of ecocide – the destruction of our ecosystems – have been recorded. There are already more than 2 thousands cases of damage to the environment (which is every rocket hitting a river). We will definitely record this and calculate it using new methods, which we plan to create 11 and apply them thanks to our European partners", Strelets noted.

He also explained that the "war waster" are contaminated territories, equipment of the occupiers destroyed by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, broken residential buildings, etc.

"We are already calculating every tank, every element of the enemy's military equipment. This is more than 200,000 tons of hazardous waste, scrap metal, and much more. Each destroyed house is 50 cubic meters of destruction waste," the Minister summarized.

He added that in the near future the Ministry of Environment will submit to the government the methodology and procedure for waste disposal from the destruction caused by the occupiers.

"Most of this waste is now located in scattered territories. The procedure for handling such waste involves their localization in certain places so that local self-government can organize the processing of this waste", Strelets says.

In the future, processed waste will be used for the country's reconstruction, in particular for construction, road restoration, etc.

In addition, the head of the Ministry of Environment reminded that every Ukrainian can join the "battalion of environmental defenders" using the "Ekozagroza" application. Here citizens can report all the facts of environmental crimes they have witnessed:

• burning of military equipment;
• forest fire;
• spillage of oil products or poisonous substances into the soil or water;
• emission of poisonous substances (chlorine, ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, hydrocyanic acid, nitric acid) into the air, etc.

"We collect all this evidence together. There is a convenient dashboard that calculates the approximate total figures of losses, which will be verified in the future together with our European colleagues, partners, and friends," Ruslan Strilets emphasized.

The minister noted that Ukraine will make the occupiers accountable for the damage caused to the environment during the war.