How War Destroys the Environment

Scorched forests and polluted waters—the environmental devastation caused by the Russia-Ukraine war is extensive. The damage is estimated at over 70 billion euros. Environmentalists are calling it "ecocide".

Military trenches in a Kharkiv forest during the Russian-Ukrainian war (Photo: AFP)

Scientists also classify the rise in civilian and military border traffic—and the pollution that comes with it—as a war-related environmental consequence. Air pollution and CO2 emissions have surged. In the Black Sea, dolphin populations have been decimated, and 80 animal species, including bison, lynx, and brown bears, are now at risk of extinction. Fighting has led to forest fires, soil contamination, and entire swaths of deadly minefields.

Even on the Russian-controlled side of the front, environmental damage has occurred. However, just like the Crimean oil spill, documenting these incidents remains difficult. Even outside the war zone, the risk of environmental disaster is rising. According to Worschech, the movement of Russia’s shadow fleet and the deteriorating condition of its ships have significantly increased the likelihood of tanker accidents, not just near the shores of EU countries like Romania and Bulgaria but also in Turkish waters and the Baltic Sea.

😔More than 30% of the territory of Ukraine is mined, Lubinets.

The Human Rights Commissioner of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine also said that almost a third of the country's forests were damaged by hostilities, and the damage caused by the war to the environment was… pic.twitter.com/ZhT5KLujld

At Viadrina, KIU researchers are compiling and calculating the war’s environmental impact costs. Nearly three years on after the war began, Worschech estimates total damages at 72 billion euros.

Worschech emphasizes that the war and its environmental damage directly affect Europe and the international community. The worst-case scenario, she warns, would be an accident at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which is under Russian control. „This would be an unimaginable nuclear disaster— on a scale dwarfing the Chernobyl disaster by comparison,” she says.

A Crime Against Nature?

The environmental destruction in Ukraine has not been a major focus of public attention, not even within Ukraine. However, the government, scientists, and civil organizations continue to gather all available evidence. This includes performing autopsies on beached dolphins and whales to determine their cause of death. 

The time-consuming search for evidence serves a higher purpose: to bring ecocide before the court with detailed proof and for Ukraine to file compensation claims based on this evidence.

So far, the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague has not opened a case for ecocide as a crime. However, both the EU and the UN have called for environmental crimes to be added to the list of prosecutable offenses. If this happens, not only could compensation be sought, but individuals could be prosecuted and sentenced to prison for environmental destruction.

Cover photo: Military trenches in a Kharkiv forest during the Russian-Ukrainian war (Photo: AFP)