On Thursday 27 March, the Ukrainian Minister for the Environment and Natural Resources, Svetlana Grinchuk, gave European environment ministers an overview of the environmental consequences of Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine.
More than 8,000 cases of environmental damage have been recorded in Ukraine, said Ms Grinchuk. Russia, which uses phosphorus bombs, has “damaged and polluted” 25% of Ukrainian territory. “More than 20% of Ukraine’s protected sites have been impacted by military operations”, said the Minister, who pointed out that water had been contaminated in Ukraine and that “millions of people” no longer had access to drinking water.
Ukraine wants to make Russia accountable for this environmental damage. To achieve this, Svetlana Grinchuk has asked for help at an international level, “to take legal action”. In the meantime, Ukraine is working on new legislation that will establish a “framework for reconstruction, taking into account the ecology and taxonomy of the European Union”.
The European Commission and the ten or so Member States who spoke, felt that Russia should pay and that the damage should be quantified. The European Commissioner for Environment, Jessika Roswall, said that the EU would help Ukraine to “improve its environmental reporting and assessment capacities” in order to better “collect evidence”. According to the Commissioner, environmental crimes should be included under international crimes.
Italy, who will be hosting the major reconstruction conference in Rome from 10 to 12 July, is of the opinion that this reconstruction must be “green, with a view to introducing sustainable development to the country”. (Original version in French by Florent Servia)