As of the first quarter of 2025, the environmental damage caused by the shelling of Ukrainian military facilities by the Russian army is estimated at about UAH 367 billion, which is equivalent to about USD 9 billion.
According to Ukrinform, this was reported by the Ministry of Defense.
“The environmental consequences of Russian aggression are land pollution with millions of tons of construction waste, fragments of concrete, glass, asbestos, oil products, heavy metals and explosives, as well as thousands of hectares of forests destroyed by fires,” said Colonel Yuriy Sytnyk, head of the Environmental Safety Department of the Main Directorate of Mine Action, Civil Protection and Environmental Safety, during a roundtable discussion on ”Environmental Safety and the Consequences of War: Challenges, Threats and Ways to Overcome.”
Sytnyk noted that this data only partially reflects the extent of environmental damage, as a full assessment of the damage requires extensive scientific research and constant monitoring.
“The Ukrainian Defense Forces defend our country, people, infrastructure and, in particular, the natural environment, which is being significantly destroyed every day. The environmental consequences of the war are no less threatening than the humanitarian or economic ones – they are already changing landscapes, polluting soil, water, air and will have a long-term impact on public health and ecosystem resilience,” Sytnyk emphasized.
According to him, in 2023-2025, the Main Directorate of Mine Action has established cooperation with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) within the framework of projects aimed at environmental rehabilitation.
Among the next steps to overcome the consequences of Russian aggression, Sytnyk called the creation of the International Scientific and Technological Center for Environmental Research and Elimination of the Consequences of War.
As Ukrinform reported, environmentalists have calculated more than a billion hryvnias in environmental damage from the explosion in Sumy on March 24.
Photo by the State Emergency Service, illustrative
Source: Russian shelling of Ukrainian military facilities caused environmental damage worth UAH 367 B - DM
