So far, more than 6,000 cases of environmental damage caused by Russia's armed aggression have been recorded, First Deputy Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine Olena Kramarenko told RBC-Ukraine.
"The environmental damage caused by the war, as I have already said, is over UAH 2.6 trillion. Among them, UAH 1 trillion is soil pollution, UAH 773 billion is air pollution by combustion products, and UAH 84 billion is water pollution. UAH 628 billion is damage to the nature reserve fund," Kramarenko said.
She noted that according to a recent study by international and national experts, greenhouse gas emissions over the two years of the war amounted to about 180 million tonnes of CO2. The damage caused by the Russian Federation to the climate over the 24 months of the war amounts to USD 32 billion.
"The greatest damage is caused by missiles. Their fuel poisons soil and water, and provokes chemical pollution. Fires cause emissions into the air, air pollution, and they also destroy the fertile layer of our land. In the future, such degraded soils will not be suitable for agricultural production for a long time, and they will not produce crops. That is, they will be preserved," the deputy minister said.
Kramarenko explained that the substances can get into the groundwater, contaminating wells, boreholes and rivers.
"I think that we and our environment will feel the impact of these substances for a long time to come," she said.
She also said that if we talk about the restoration of a burnt forest, it takes approximately 90 years to restore the forest.