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Minister: Russia's war has caused $56 billion in environmental damage

by Alexander Khrebet July 8, 2023 10:44 PM 1 min read
Over a dozen Russian trucks lay destroyed in a forest as a result of a Ukrainian artillery attack outside Izium, Kharkiv Oblast, on Sept. 15, 2022. (Kostyantyn Chernichkin/The Kyiv Independent)
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Ukraine’s State Environmental Inspectorate reported that Russia's full-scale invasion has caused $55.9 billion (Hr 2 trillion) in environmental damage, Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources Ruslan Strilets said on July 8.

According to the minister, a single day of war causes $111 million (Hr 4 billion) in environmental damage.

Strilets also said the number doesn’t include the damage, caused by the Kakhovka dam explosion on June 6.

The calculations are ongoing.

“Russia will pay for every day of this war. For every tree it burns. For every piece of Ukrainian land desecrated. That is why we are uniting with the whole civilized world and working towards the recognition of ecocide in international law,” Strilets said.

Russia's war have been polluting and littering Ukraine’s land, causing the wildfires, creating the hazardous waste, contaminating the water, deforesting, and disrupting the ecosystems.

As of late June, Russia’s war has created more than 200,000 tons of hazardous waste and scrap metal, while every destroyed house represents 50 cubic meters of destruction waste, according to the ministry.

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