‘War crime’, ‘crime of ecocide’: on Tuesday 13 June in Strasbourg, MEPs were at a loss for words when they condemned the attack on the Nova Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine on 6 June and the suffering it caused.
A debate with the European Commission and the Council of the EU on the humanitarian and environmental consequences of this tragedy was an opportunity for all the speakers from the EPP, Renew Europe, S&D, Greens/EFA, ECR and ID groups to blame Russia for this tragedy, while the warring parties blame each other, and to express their solidarity with the victims of the massive flooding as well as their continued support for Ukraine.
“The destruction of the hydroelectric power station would not have happened if Russia had not started this illegal war”, declared the Swedish Minister for European Affairs, Jessika Roswall, denouncing “an abject act” that threatens the lives of thousands of people, the drinking water supply and agricultural production in a large part of the country.
“It’s an environmental disaster that will last for years. We are going to concentrate on rebuilding Ukraine and getting it back on its feet”, she added.
At the opening of the plenary session, the President of the Parliament, Roberta Metsola, stressed that Ukrainians needed practical help, support and justice - “this cannot go unanswered”, she insisted.
The European Commission’s Executive Vice-President for Economic Affairs, Valdis Dombrovskis, deplored the fact that “Russian forces are systematically bombing and targeting deployed rescue teams”. He also stressed the importance of closely monitoring the impact of this disaster on the Zaporijia nuclear power plant. “For the moment, the coolant is at a stable level”, he said.
Recalling that the European Commission’s services (the EU’s Emergency Response Coordination Centre) have been in close contact with the Ukrainian emergency services since the first day of the disaster, he said that 14 EU Member States had responded to the Ukrainian authorities’ request to the Commission for assistance.
Seventy-three ships, 200 water pumps and 160,000 emergency shelters have already been donated through the Union Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM). He also referred to the conference for the reconstruction and recovery of Ukraine, co-organised by the United Kingdom and Ukraine in London (21-22 June), on the fringes of which the third meeting of the steering board of the donors' platform will be held.
Tonino Picula (S&D, Croatian) suggested joining the Council of Europe's initiative to draw up an inventory of destruction.
Faced with the “worst environmental disaster in Ukraine since Chernobyl” - 18 billion tonnes of water released and the possible extension of the disasters observed over 5,000 km - Marie Toussaint (Greens/EFA, French) felt that the EU should respond to “Volodymyr Zelensky’s request to recognise the crime of ecocide”. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)