War has cost Ukraine ₴10 trillion in damage to natural resources and environment – ministry
According to preliminary estimates, damage to Ukraine's natural resources amounted to 10 trillion hryvnias. Seven methods have already been adopted and registered in the Ministry of Justice, according to which the damage caused to the environment by the russian federation's war against Ukraine is calculated.
The Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources announced this, according to Media Center Ukraine – Ukrinform.
"In particular, damages are already being calculated in four directions. These are land, soil, atmospheric air, and water resources. The State Environmental Inspection is working to this end, and almost 2 trillion hryvnias of damages have already been calculated.
And this is only the beginning because there is still much work. We still need to calculate the damages related to the forests and the nature reserve fund",- Oleksandr Stavniychuk, head of the environmental control department of the Department of Environmental Control and Methodology of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources, said.
Stavnichuk said that, based on preliminary calculations, the destruction of Ukraine's natural resources had caused around 10 trillion hryvnias in damages.
For reference:
The Ukrainian delegation headed by Ukrainian Environmental Protection and Natural Resources Minister Ruslan Strilets participated in the UN 2023 Water Conference, which took place in New York on March 22-24, 2023.
Speaking at the UN events, he tried to convey to the general public that the damage caused by russia's war in Ukraine affects the whole world because the environment has no borders.
In October 2022, russia destroyed and opened a number of locks within the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant on the Dnipro River. As a result, Ukraine is losing thousands of cubic meters of fresh water daily, which may have catastrophic consequences.
Moreover, at the international online conference "The Environmental Consequences of Russian War in Ukraine: Together for the future recovery of the Ukrainian Environment," Czech and Ukrainian ecologists and government officials discussed how to restore the environment after the war.
