722
К tons
The amount of oil, oil products, and gas burned
Ukraine has been defending itself against full-scale Russian aggression for almost two yeas. However, in this war, not only are people starving, but nature is also being destroyed. Ukraine's landscape is scarred by shells, charred by fires, and poisoned by chemical compounds that are incompatible with life. Unfortunately, many unique natural areas may be impossible to restore.
What damage has the Russian invasion caused to the ecosystem of Ukraine? How many years will it take to demine the entire mined territory? And why do we in Ukraine believe that we will be able to restore what was destroyed?
Did you know that Ukraine is the largest country that is entirely located in Europe?
Ukraine is a country at the crossroads of different natural zones,
so we have mountains, steppes, forests and the sea.
603,700 sq km
The area of Ukraine
That's more than Spain.
Or this is like two Polands or six South Koreas.
We have a lot of agricultural lands, which feeds the entire country and another 400 million people in the world
But now, Ukraine is scarred by shells, charred by fires, and poisoned by chemical compounds incompatible with life
Burn the Maldives 2 times
900
dolphins died in the Black and Azov seas due to the sonars of Russian ships
It will be the same as the area of fires in Ukraine caused by the war
25
parks and nature reserves are currently or have previously been occupied or in a war zone
Ecocide in Ukraine as Russia blew up Kakhovka HPP
Fires spread across Ukraine
73 thou. tons
Emissions into the atmosphere from destroyed Russian equipment. It's three Statues of Liberty turned to dust and thrown into the atmosphere
119.1 mln tons of CO2-eq.
greenhouse gas emissions due to the war. Like in Belgium!
$8.7 bln
Agricultural losses due to war: burnt fields, destroyed and stolen machinery, etc
30%
of the territory of Ukraine is mined
757 years
will be needed to clear all the mines
49 mines
at least are entirely flooded and cannot be operated in the Donbas region
Despite the vast scale of the destruction, after the victory, we want to restore Ukraine even better than it was before the war
That's how many unique parks and protected places Ukraine has
Would you like to know more?
See the first study on the impact of war on the ecosystem of Ukraine
We have prepared an infographic study to help the world better understand how the war is destroying Ukraine's environment and what Ukraine's recovery needs are.
It has a minimum of text, but many infographics to show how fighting destroys protected areas, harms people's health, and how much money and time it will take to restore.
We would like to thank the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine, Gazeta Wyborcza and our other partners for their help in preparing the study.
Partners
Media support
One day of an invasion causes about $109 million of damage to Ukraine's environment — without considering the Russian ecocide at the Kakhovskaya HPP. Russia is at war with the entire civilized world; every day it cancels the efforts of everyone for whom the fight against climate change is a priority. The Ministry supported this study to show the world the environmental and climatic consequences of Russian aggression and bring closer the moment when Russia will be held accountable for ecocide.
Ruslan Strilets, Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine