For three years of all-out war, Russia has destroyed not only thousands of Ukrainian lives, cities, and homes but also ravaged our nature. The public organization “EcoAction” has been monitoring cases of potential environmental damage caused by Russian aggression since the beginning of the invasion, publishing this data in open access in the format of an interactive map. What harm has Russia caused to the nature of Ukraine and what challenges will we face after the war?
Volunteers have already recorded more than 2000 various cases of impact and intensity: from minor local damage to absolutely devastating effects on natural ecosystems, such as the destruction of the Kakhovka Reservoir dam by Russian forces.
These cases have been recorded in seven different categories: “Livestock Waste”, “Damage to Industrial Objects”, “Damage to Oil and Gas Industry Objects”, “Nuclear Safety”, “Damage to Energy Objects”, “Impact on Ecosystems”, and “Impact on Marine Ecosystems”.
Russians have damaged hundreds of enterprises throughout Ukraine, but most of the cases have been recorded in the frontline areas. Very different objects have been destroyed, for example, on March 3, 2022, a fire occurred at a polyurethane warehouse in the Kyiv region, and on April 22, 2022, a chemical production in Kharkiv was burned as a result of a missile strike. There were also repeated damages to tanks with ammonia, nitric acid, and ammonia pipelines in various regions of Ukraine. Due to a missile strike on April 19, 2024, 10 tons of vegetable oil were destroyed at the port infrastructure in the Odesa region.
These are just three cases from hundreds, and usually, the damage to industrial facilities such as factories, warehouses, etc., is not only destruction but also large-scale fires, toxic substance leaks into the environment, and air pollution with toxic gases.
For example, the main risk from the destruction of tanks with nitric acid is that, when interacting with moisture in the air, vapors of nitric acid can create acid rains. Such precipitation causes the leaching of calcium, potassium, and magnesium from the soils, leading to the degradation of flora and fauna. Forests can die, and water bodies such as lakes and ponds can become poisoned due to such rains.
Russian troops have repeatedly attacked objects in Ukraine’s oil and gas industry: from oil refineries to oil depots, gas storage, and gas stations.
Particularly many such cases occurred at the beginning of the full-scale invasion in 2022. For example, the attack on an oil depot in Kalynivka on March 24, 2022, in Kyiv region. The fire lasted for 5 days, burning down 22 tanks with oil products, 8 railway ramps with freight cars and pipelines. As a result of burning 5.8 thousand tons of fuel into the atmosphere, 20 thousand tons of pollutants entered the air, including: 19 thousand 935 tons of carbon dioxide, 36 tons of carbon monoxide, 8 tons of nitrogen dioxide, and 3 tons of zinc oxide.
Fires at oil depots cause large-scale emissions of toxic substances that harm both people and the environment. The combustion of oil products creates carbon monoxide, benzopyrene, sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, carcinogenic aromatic compounds, acidic gases, and soot, which are dangerous for health and can cause poisoning, mutagenic changes, and respiratory diseases. In addition to the threats to human health, such fires cause significant harm to soils, water bodies, and vegetation, leading to pollution and destruction of ecosystems.
One component of Russian military aggression is the energy terror against Ukrainians. From the very first day of the full-scale war, Russians have attacked Ukrainian energy facilities. Over three years of war, dozens of such objects have been damaged or destroyed, including the Zmiiv TPP, Kurakhiv TPP, Trypillia TPP, Burshtyn TPP, Ladyzhyn TPP, DniproHES, and others.
Shelling such facilities is dangerous not only for consumers but also for the environment, as they contain fuel storage facilities — most often coal, heavy fuel oil, or peat, which can ignite and cause significant emissions of hazardous substances into the air: soot, particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, heavy metals, etc. Over time, these substances can spread far beyond the area where the fire occurred and severely affect people’s health.
Moreover, massive fires impact climate change, accelerating processes that contribute to global warming. According to data from the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Accounting Initiative due to the war, total greenhouse gas emissions over three years of full-scale invasion reach 230 million tons of CO2. This amount of emissions is equivalent to the annual emissions of Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia combined or the annual emissions of 120 million vehicles operating on fossil fuels.
Any activities of the Russian army have a negative impact on Ukraine’s environment, but there are a number of cases that are particularly destructive to ecosystems. Mainly these are cases where natural ecosystems and objects of the natural reserve fund of Ukraine are destroyed.
Over three years, dozens of such objects have been affected, including the unique biosphere reserve “Askania-Nova”, where hundreds of hectares of reserve steppe burned and hundreds of animals were destroyed, the Chernobyl Radio-Ecological Biosphere Reserve, the Luhansk Nature Reserve “Threeizben’ky Steppe”, the regional landscape park “Kleban-Bik”, the national nature park “Holy Mountains” located in Donetsk region, the national park “Kamianska Sich”, which was occupied from February to November 2022, among many others.
The most devastating event for the environment over the past three years was the destruction of the Kakhovka HPP dam on June 6, 2023, and its consequences. The scale of the disaster turned out to be enormous: the total area of flooding and draining amounted to at least 5000 km², vulnerable ecosystems, including those in national parks and other objects of the natural reserve fund, were flooded. As a result, the existence of certain species and ecosystems was threatened.
Moreover, numerous warehouses, industrial enterprises, landfills, gas stations, and other objects were flooded, from which toxic substances washed into the Dnipro-Buh Liman. Significant amounts of freshwater, contaminated with fuel and lubricants, fertilizers, and wastewater from flooded settlements and fields, entered the Black Sea. Additional sources of secondary pollution could be the bottom deposits of the Kakhovka Reservoir, where for decades, emissions from industrial enterprises and residues of pesticides and fertilizers from surrounding fields have accumulated.
The greatest pollution of the Black and Azov Seas comes from fuel and lubricants and ammunition that enter the water when ships and aircraft are sunk. This has happened repeatedly: on March 3, 2022, Russians sank a ship under the flag of Panama in the Black Sea, and on March 16 of the same year, two downed aircraft fell into the water. On July 7, 2022, Russians shelled the Moldovan tanker Millennial Spirit, which had over 500 tons of diesel fuel on board. After the second hit on the tanker, reports of a fire were received, and later, an oil slick was observed roughly in the same spot. The tanker itself possibly sank.
Shelling and burning ships at sea, falling aircraft threaten not only with emissions of pollutants into the air. Sunk and damaged military equipment is a source of pollution with petroleum products, which create a film impermeable to oxygen on the surface of the sea. Moreover, these petroleum products are toxic to most marine inhabitants, including dolphins.
Not all cases recorded by EcoAction on their interactive map have actual environmental damage. For example, the category “Nuclear Safety” includes all events related to nuclear facilities in Ukraine: rocket flights over them, explosions on their territory and nearby, loss of electricity supply, occupation progress, etc. If Russians carry out a targeted destructive attack on these facilities, the consequences for nature and Ukrainians would be colossal.
Since March 4, 2022, Russians have occupied the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant – the largest nuclear station in Europe, which provided about a fifth of Ukraine’s electricity. During the occupation, numerous cases of infrastructure destruction, damage to power lines, shelling, explosions on the territory, and periodic power outages critical for cooling the reactors have been recorded.
On June 6, 2023, the detonation of the Kakhovka HPP by Russian forces caused the loss of a reliable source of water supply for many purposes at the Zaporizhzhia NPP. The station is still served by Ukrainian employees who are in captivity, are under constant pressure, undergo checks, and suffer from torture.
The situation at the plant is unprecedented. Prolonged loss of power supply, damage to cooling systems or negligence of the occupiers could lead to serious accidents and reactor damage. In addition, there is a risk associated with the dry storage of nuclear waste, where 174 containers are stored, each containing 24 assemblies of spent nuclear fuel.
The last alarming incident was the attack of a Russian strike drone on the Chernobyl NPP. Due to the impact on the Chornobyl NPP, the external and internal shells of the new safe confinement arch were damaged, creating a hole about six meters in diameter, as well as damaging equipment and electrical cables. The aftermath of the damage lasted several days as rescuers opened structures for final extinguishing. Despite the damage, the supporting beams did not suffer significant destruction, and the radiation background remained within normal limits.
It is important to understand that the restoration of damaged ecosystems will require significant resources and time, and some losses may turn out to be irreversible. It is already clear that the consequences will be felt not only on a territorial level but also globally, particularly due to significant greenhouse gas emissions and the destruction of areas important for biodiversity.
Details read here: EcoAction