The Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine Ruslan Strilets noted on November 6, 2022, that more than 2,200 crimes against the environment of Ukraine committed by Russian troops had already been recorded since the beginning of the war, the damage caused has already exceeded 37.4 billion euros.
Source: The Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine Ruslan Strilets
“Usually we take to heart the losses that a person bears: death, injuries, destruction of homes, schools and hospitals, disappearance of relatives and loved ones. But we rarely think about the fact that a rocket that fell somewhere far away takes a part of our life. A polluted reservoir tens and hundreds of kilometers away takes drinking water from each of us. When the forest is destroyed, we all lose, because the forest is the wealth of people,” the head of the Ministry of Environment noted.
According to the Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine, more than 2,200 crimes against the environment of Ukraine have already been recorded since the beginning of the war. The damage caused to the environment has already exceeded 1,373 billion hryvnias or more than 37.4 billion euros. The air suffers the most from the burning of oil products and forest fires. 927 billion hryvnias – this is the material damage caused by air pollution.
“Russia, having countless natural resources, is encroaching on what the Ukrainian people own. It is not just an irrational use of natural resources – the Russian invasion turns into a conflagration of what does not belong to it and will never belong to it,” added Ruslan Strilets.
See also: 20% of nature conservation areas of Ukraine are affected by Russia’s war