About 80% of the forest in the Holy Mountains National Nature Park in Donetsk has burned due to the war with Russia

The Holy Mountains National Nature Park was under occupation from March to September 2022 and is now under constant shelling, which leads to numerous fires.

By order of the Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine Ruslan Strilets, Deputy Minister Olena Kramarenko, and Directors of the Ministry of Environmental Protection Departments Pavlo Ivanov and Marina Shymkus made a working visit to the park to develop a step-by-step action plan for its restoration and to identify the most urgent issues that need to be addressed.

‘About 9,500 hectares of forest in the Sviati Hory National Park have been burned by the war. 10,000 hectares need to be surveyed and cleared of explosive devices. These numbers are frightening and make us think about what to do next and how to plan the park's restoration. The first and foremost priority is demining. Partially, environmentalists are carrying out the demining themselves — about 100 km of forest roads and access routes to firefighting water sources have already been cleared. This helps in timely fire suppression and prevents their spread,’ noted Olena Kramarenko.

Preliminary estimates suggest that the environmental damage to the Holy Mountains National Nature Park caused by the Russian forces is approximately 16 billion hryvnias.

‘Thank you to the environmentalists for continuing their work even under such difficult conditions,’ added Olena Kramarenko.