Russia has committed more than 7,000 environmental crimes in Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, with damages exceeding €72.9 billion, said Olha Yukhymchuk, Deputy Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine for European Integration.
"...In Ukraine, over seven thousand environmental crimes by Russia have already been recorded since the beginning of the full-scale invasion. Damages exceed €72.9 billion – this includes soil and land pollution, harm to the nature reserve fund and protected ecosystems, air, water bodies, and sea pollution, as well as the war's impact on climate change," the ministry's press service stated.
During a meeting with representatives of Italy’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Rome, the deputy minister emphasized that "data on environmental damages will form the basis for Ukraine’s further green recovery."
"Currently, the Ministry of Environmental Protection is working on a framework law 'On the Fundamentals of Green Recovery,' which will outline the key principles and approaches to sustainable recovery of the country and will take European standards into account," Yukhymchuk said.
