Much of our sense of the scale of damage in Ukraine is based on measurable factors: the number of lives lost, injuries caused, buildings destroyed, missiles launched.
But we should also pay attention to the environmental damage and its unpredictable consequences – that’s according to Andriy Yermak, who leads President Zelenskyy’s office.
In a Guardian opinion piece co-written by former Swedish foreign minister Margot Wallstrom, Mr Yermak accuses Russia of deliberately targeting Ukraine’s environment.
“Many of Ukraine’s natural reserves – its animal and sea life, water and impressive biodiversity – have been terribly damaged or polluted,” they write.
“Toxins leak from its damaged industries and infrastructure. Global food security is at risk.
“The world cannot afford to ignore this growing environmental threat.”
Mr Yermak and Ms Wallstrom point to the blowing up of the Nova Kakhovka dam in June as a key example, saying it unleashed a food that has ruined dozens of towns and spilled tonnes of oil across one of the world’s most valuable agricultural regions.
“Today, we worry that an environmental disaster of even greater magnitude is looming at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant,” they add.
“Playing with explosives at a nuclear power plant risks environmental doom – for Ukraine and for all of Europe. Nuclear contamination does not stop at borders.”
The authors saying that while much of what Russia has done in Ukraine are rightly being investigated as war crimes, some of those crimes qualify as ‘ecocide’ under Ukrainian and Russian law.
Ukrainian law describes ecocide as “the mass destruction of flora and fauna, poisoning of air or water resources, and any other actions that may cause environmental disaster.”
“Russia will face justice,” Mr Yermak writes. “But urgent action is needed now. Measures to prevent further environmental catastrophe or mitigate damage should be prioritised – even during war.”
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