To date, Russia has committed more than 4,700 environmental crimes on the territory of Ukraine worth more than $60 billion. This was stated by the Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine Ruslan Strelets in an interview with the Lithuanian public broadcaster LRT, UNN reports.
"They (Russians - ed.) use our Kinburn Spit as a military base. I believe that one day we will collect all the data and send the Russians a bill to pay for all these crimes against nature," Strelets said.
Strelets said that, according to the data available at the moment, the Russian army has committed at least 4,600 environmental crimes, some of which are already estimated at 60.5 billion euros. However, he had no doubt that this amount would increase after the war, when all the information is collected.
"The damage to nature is much greater than to infrastructure... Of course, we are talking about numbers here. However, there are things that cannot be measured. For example, how much does a destroyed forest cost? It's not just the price of wood per cubic meter on the market, it's nature, and it's impossible to name its price in dollars or euros," the minister said.
When asked what the main consequences of the war were for the environment, Strelets replied: "We can say that the war is the biggest environmental disaster in the history of Ukraine. The consequences of this catastrophe are still difficult to assess, and they are damaging not only Ukraine, but the entire region, and maybe even the entire world.
I always say that the environment has no boundaries. Together with our environmental colleagues, we collect data and calculate the damage not only in Ukraine but also around the world. Today we have identified more than 4,600 crimes. More than a year after the war began, the damage to nature was estimated at $60.5 billion.
According to him, air pollution accounts for almost half of all military damage.
"Additional greenhouse gas emissions accelerate the climate crisis. And one of the biggest problems for us is mine clearance. Ukraine is the most mined country in the world today. I think that 25% of Ukraine's territory can be mined. We realize that we will have to deal with this problem not even in years, but in decades," said Strelets.
Another problem, he said, is water pollution.
"We realize that there are a lot of pollutants and harmful substances in our rivers and lakes. This is caused not only by military operations, but also by the displacement of people. We have a lot of refugees who moved from Eastern Ukraine to Western Ukraine. As a result, some water treatment plants are under enormous pressure, which affects natural water bodies," said Strelets.