The Russian Federation’s invasion of Ukraine has caused more than 52 billion euros of environmental damage, Ukrainian Environment Minister Ruslan Striles has calculated, estimating the destruction of the New Kakhovka Dam at 1.2 billion euros.
“Europe will find mines brought by water to its beaches,” Stiles said during a video conference with European environment ministers gathered in Luxembourg.
The destruction of this dam on June 6 with 80,000 tons of water, an action that Ukraine attributes to the Russian Federation, left “a million people without drinking water.”
“The cities supplied by this dam do not have clean water,” added Strales, who also said the destruction “caused 20,000 animals in the north, including endemic species that only live in southern Ukraine.” that “perhaps the world has lost the last specimens of some species”, which “cannot be calculated in terms of money”.
The Ukrainian minister also stated that “half of the damage is caused by air pollution. But eventually this pollution will end up in the European Union, the US or Russia itself.”
Striles stressed that Ukraine supports the decision of the European Parliament to include “ecocide” in the list of environmental crimes, and called on European leaders to include it in their national legislation.
Finally, he recalled that Ukraine continues to work towards becoming a member of the European Union as soon as possible, and noted that the recovery from the Russian invasion must be compatible with the sustainable development agenda and the European Green Pact.