The damage to the Ukrainian ecology caused by russia is estimated at $35.3 billion, Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov has tweeted.
"Millions of hectares of nature preserves are under threat. Article 55 of the Protocol I prohibits waging war VS the natural environment by way of reprisals, but russia doesn't care," he added.
On 31 December, the first deputy head of the State Ecological Inspectorate, Dmytro Zaruba, said that the total amount of damage caused to the air, land and water resources of Ukraine as a result of the Russian invasion exceeds UAH 1.5 trillion.
Earlier, Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine Ruslan Strelets reported losses of $38 billion, warning that this amount would increase, as specialists do not have access to the occupied territories and the frontline zone.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that about 3 million hectares of forests in Ukraine have already been affected by hostilities.