Accounting Chamber estimates Russia’s damage to Ukrainian environment almost UAH 1.4 trillion
Fire at an oil refinery near Odessa as a result of a Russian strike, April 3, 2022 (Photo:REUTERS/Nacho Doce)
The Russian military has caused damage to the environment of Ukraine worth more than UAH 1.35 trillion, according to Ukraine’s Accounting Chamber, referring to data from the Operational Headquarters for Recording Ecocrimes by the Russian Federation.
Every day, dangerous substances enter the air due to forest fires, from the burning of oil products and the burning of industrial facilities.
According to estimates, since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the number of such emissions has exceeded 67 million tons.
In 2020 and 2021, only 2.2 million tons per year were recorded.
Three million hectares of forests were affected – almost a third of the forest area of Ukraine. Some of them are lost forever, the Accounting Chamber said.
“Russia has turned our fertile soils into the most polluted with explosives lands in the world. About a third of the territory of Ukraine will require demining, which will take at least 10 years,” the chamber said.
Nov. 6 is the International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict.
Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation, scientists have recorded a sharp increase in the number of dolphin deaths in the waters of theBlack and Azov seas. Their mass death is being investigated by the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office.
Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Google News
