Russian environmental attacks in Ukraine caused €85 billion in damage, Kyiv estimates
June 4, 2025
Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukraine’s Ministry of Environmental Protection had to change its focus from managing the country’s natural resources and addressing climate change to tracking each case of the environment being deliberately attacked.
From February 2022 until today, Kyiv has registered and documented over 8,000 cases of Russia’s crimes against Ukraine’s environment, the country’s minister told Euronews.
“We call it crimes against the environment because there is pollution of water resources, destruction of water infrastructure, water supply infrastructure and soil pollution, soil mining and forest fires. All this is a result of Russia’s war”, Svitlana Grynchuk said.
Grynchuk told Euronews that Kyiv’s estimates of these 8,000 cases “in monetary terms to (amount to) more than €85 billion” — a figure that does not include the damage to the territories Russia currently occupies and therefore Ukraine cannot access.
These losses also do not yet include the most recent attack on the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and the damage to its safety confinement, Grynchuk noted.
“More than 45 countries have contributed throughout this period since the Chernobyl disaster. And only in 2017 we completed the construction of the new safe confinement for more than €1 billion, which was recently damaged in a Russian attack,” she explained.
A Russian drone hit the confinement over the fourth nuclear reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant on February 14 2025. The drone exploded upon impact with the sarcophagus, causing a fire that took approximately three weeks to extinguish.
Grynchuk pointed out that while it is possible to rebuild and restore civilian infrastructure, resuscitating the environment will be much more difficult, as “some ecosystems and some natural objects will not return to the pre-war original state.”
Environmental concerns in wartime
Dealing with daily Russian missile and drone attacks for three and a half years, Ukraine has been primarily focusing on air defence systems to protect civilians. Meanwhile, the civilians have been trying to protect the environment, Grynchuk said.
“You will not find a single Ukrainian who will tell you that it is not a priority now, because it is exactly during Russia’s war that we felt how important the natural resources are”, she pointed out.
This issue is of particular importance to those who have lost access to essential services, such as water.
Millions of Ukrainians lost access to water supply when Russian forces destroyed the Kakhovka dam in the Kherson region on 6 June 2023. Its reservoir supplied water to cool the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant — the largest nuclear facility in Europe — and provided water for irrigation in southern Ukraine.
Kyiv attempted to restore the water supply to the people and industrial sites, but many consequences still remain unresolved, Grynchuk said.
“First of all, these are complex and expensive projects, and these are projects in regions that are constantly under attack,” she noted.
Ukraine‘s environmental EU aspirations
If it were not challenging enough to try to restore environmental losses under constant attacks, Kyiv also has to do so according to EU norms and regulations.
Ukraine is set to undergo a key environmental and climate screening with Brussels on 16 June, when Kyiv will have to demonstrate its alignment with EU legislation.
“This is the largest and most extensive screening process in terms of volume and duration, because it affects every sector of Ukraine’s economy. This includes agriculture, infrastructure, healthcare, and education,” Grynchuk said.
Brussels previously stated that Ukraine is making steady progress towards the EU, particularly by demonstrating the highest screening rate in the history of enlargement. Grynchuk says environmental and climate protection aspects and sectors must be ready for European integration.
To demonstrate its commitment, Ukraine ensured that its recent minerals deal with the US aligns with Kyiv’s efforts to join the EU.
“The agreement clearly states that its implementation should take into account the principles and ambitions of Ukraine to join the European Union and should not contradict the rules and regulations that we have to follow”, Grynchuk said, explaining that the US deal will ultimately bring benefits for the EU as well.
“The supply chains of certain materials are highly dependent on imports from other countries. This is the same problem for both Europe and the US,” she pointed out.
“That is why it is very important to replace elements in these supply chains with raw materials and elements that are produced in the European Union, in Ukraine, in friendly countries, in civilised countries.”
“This is primarily a matter of national security for the European Union and Ukraine, as well as for the United States,” Grynchuk concluded.
Search
RECENT PRESS RELEASES
Related Post
