Ukraine's Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources, Ruslan Strilets, has described the environmental damage caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, according to his statement during the broadcast of a telethon.
According to the Minister of Environmental Protection, the Russians have caused environmental damage amounting to 2.4 trillion dollars.
"As of today, the environmental damage is already over 2.4 trillion hryvnias, this is more than 4,200 cases of environmental crimes," Strilets informed.
The Minister reacted to the Russian attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure. According to him, the attacks affect not only the infrastructure but also the environment.
"As for the attacks on energy, this is not only an impact on infrastructure and people's lives. This is burning, emissions, waste of destruction, this is a large amount of what affects the state of our environment," Strilets said.
The Minister also mentioned the losses from the destruction of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Station by the Russian army.
"When the terrorist attack occurred at the Kakhovka HPP, the ministry appealed to experts from UNEP - this is a UN organization that deals specifically with the environment. They gave us over 20 experts from over 20 countries around the world. There were attempts to calculate the losses of ecosystem services. The figures were over 15 million dollars," Strilets said.
Environmental problems during the war
By the way, the Russian army has resumed attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure. In Kharkiv, the CHPP-5 (Kharkiv Combined Heat and Power Plant No 5) was destroyed by a missile strike, and in the region, the Russians damaged the Zmiivska TPP.
We also reported that the Kharkiv Regional Military Administration estimated the environmental damage following the strike on the oil depot.
