Spanish photographer unveils project about Russian environmental crimes
Flooded city of Kherson, June 2023, Photo: Mykola Tymchenko/Rubryka
A well-known Spanish photographer is scaling up his project to cover the ecocide in Ukraine so that the environmental consequences of the war can be seen by the whole world.
What is the problem?
Ukraine's ecology ministry says Russia has already caused more than $100 mln in damage to the environment. The destroyed equipment has turned into more than 859,000 tons of waste, which has already released more than 83,000 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere.
"The environment has no borders, so the ecocide that is happening in Ukraine today will be felt by the whole world. We must record all environmental crimes and create a recovery plan. Every citizen today must stand up for the environment and preserve the priceless resources of the planet Earth," said Yulia Markhel, leader of the state's largest environmental movement "Let's do it, Ukraine."
What is the solution?
The Minister of Environmental Protection Ruslan Strilets and Spanish Ambassador to Ukraine Ricardo Lopez-Aranda Jagu said agreements were reached on cooperation to create a photo project about ecocide.
Photo: Ministry of Ecology
How does it work?
With the assistance of the Ministry of Ecology, the Spanish photographer has already visited Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Poltava, Dnipro, and Odesa regions and captured images of the terrible consequences of war on nature.
These include the affected areas of the Hetman National Nature Park. The photographs formed the basis of a large-scale material in one of the most influential Spanish publications EL PAIS.
The audience includes more than 700,000 readers who have seen the images of the affected Ukrainian environment.
The images will be used as the basis for international exhibitions to show the world the consequences of the war.
The photographer aims to spread the terrible images of destruction not only in newspapers, magazines and print media, but also to place them at international exhibitions and encourage people to support Ukraine.
