United to win: Germany to assist Ukraine in gathering evidence of Russia’s environmental crimes

Ukraine will receive help from Germany in collecting evidence about environmental crimes of the Russian Federation.

The Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine reported this.

What is the problem?

During the full-scale aggression, the State Inspectorate has already recorded more than 2,500 Russian crimes against the Ukrainian environment. A year ago, accrued losses reached about 26 billion euros. Today, it has already doubled and amounts to 55 billion euros.

What is the solution?

Germany will support the Ukraine government in gathering evidence about Russia's environmental crimes.

How does it work?

Ruslan Strilets informed the head of the Ministry of Environment that he had signed a memorandum of cooperation with Stefan Heissner, PwC's partner in Germany.

It is noted that PwC Germany has professionals with vast experience in legal investigations, disputes, and international arbitration.

"We will work with our partners on the architecture of the platform and the methodology for assessing damage to the environment as a result of the war. German colleagues will support the Government of Ukraine in gathering evidence about environmental crimes in Russia. We plan to implement pilot projects along the full track: from recording such crimes to determining damages and preparing lawsuits," said Strilets.

Earlier, the head of the Ministry of Environment stated that due to the war, some natural resources of Ukraine were lost forever. Nearly 3 million hectares of forest were damaged, accounting for almost a third of the country's forested areas, and the Russian incursion damaged 600 species of fauna and 750 species of flora.

For reference:

In March, UN Deputy Secretary-General Inger Andersen said that the states bordering Ukraine are aware of the severe impact of the Russian invasion on the environment.

Recently, it became known that the Russians are building landfills in the temporarily occupied territories to serve the regions of Russia.

According to the CNS, the Russian occupiers plan to build three landfills in the occupied territories to store waste, including from the Rostov region.

We are talking about landfills, not waste processing plants.

In the Rostov region, the idea of creating a new landfill was abandoned due to protests by residents. Therefore, the problem is being solved at the expense of the occupied territories.

Currently, the enemy is developing project documentation to create testing grounds.

It should be noted that at the conference held in Kyiv on October 20, the Minister of Environmental Protection, Ruslan Strilets, announced that a Ukrainian public organization became part of the LIFE program for the first time.