As a result of Russian armed aggression, the environment of Ukraine has suffered damage exceeding UAH 1.35 trillion, the Accounting Chamber has said on Facebook with reference to the Operational HQ for recording Russian environmental crimes.
It is noted that as a result of Russian attacks, forest fires break out every day, oil products and industrial facilities burn. Hazardous substances get into the air. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the number of such emissions has exceeded 67 million tonnes, compared to 2.2 million tonnes in 2021 and 2020.
So far, 3 million hectares of forests have already been affected - almost a third of the forest fund of our country. Some of them are lost forever. About a third of the territory of Ukraine will need demining, which will take at least 10 years.
The threat is not only to the environment of Ukraine, as the war has caused a number of environmental problems in Europe. One of the biggest dangers now is the mined dam of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant and nuclear blackmail at the occupied Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant.