Eco-damages from Russia's military aggression reached 3 trillion hryvnias – Strilets

Eco-damages from Russia's military aggression reached 3 trillion hryvnias – Strilets mepr.gov.ua
Katerina Belousova

Ukrainian forests suffered the most

The Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources, Ruslan Strilets, said that environmental damage from Russia's full-scale aggression reached 3 trillion hryvnias.

It happened at the international conference "United for justice" in Lviv, reports Interfax-Ukraine.

He emphasized that some of the natural resources have been lost forever.

"Russians, like barbarians, destroy everything, not even realizing that the environment does not recognize borders. We have already calculated the damage: 3 trillion hryvnias of environmental damage pollution of the land, air, burned forests, destroyed natural resources," said Strilets.

According to him, Ukrainian forests were the most affected. Thus, almost 3 million hectares of forest, that is, almost a third of all forests in the country, have been damaged. In addition, 500,000 hectares are currently occupied or are in the war zone.ecopolitic.com.ua

Earlier, EcoPolitic wrote, that during 11 months of full-scale war, Russian aggression caused damage to Ukrainian soil, air and water resources amounting to more than 1 trillion 743 billion hryvnias.

As EcoPolitic previously reported, ecologists analyzed satellite images of territories affected by a full-scale war in order to predict the future impact this will have on the environment and its recovery.

Related
This week’s round-up of environmental crimes: bribes for tree felling, a billion in granite, and sewage discharged into the Dnipro
This week’s round-up of environmental crimes: bribes for tree felling, a billion in granite, and sewage discharged into the Dnipro

Prosecutors have identified a further seven individuals involved in the illegal extraction of granite, resulting in losses of over 1.5 billion hryvnias

Deliberately setting fire to rubbish instead of managing waste: a community in Bukovina has been fined
Deliberately setting fire to rubbish instead of managing waste: a community in Bukovina has been fined

The environmental inspectorate has detected signs of deliberate arson, but the authorities are blaming it all on unidentified local residents

Suspended sentence and a fine: how a forester from Volyn was punished for illegal logging worth millions
Suspended sentence and a fine: how a forester from Volyn was punished for illegal logging worth millions

The man avoided a prison sentence thanks to a plea bargain and favourable character references

The communities of Yaremche and Skole are destroying nature by exploiting their eco-friendly image — activists
The communities of Yaremche and Skole are destroying nature by exploiting their eco-friendly image — activists

The authorities are planning to clear the ancient forests of the Carpathians to make way for a new holiday resort, and to build yet another wind farm on the mountain pastures