6 trillion hryvnia in losses: a war that devastates the environment

War is not only a human tragedy, but also a catastrophe for nature.

According to the Ministry of Environment, Ukraine’s environmental losses from Russian aggression exceeded UAH 6 trillion.

This is not just a number. It is hundreds of thousands of hectares of burned forests, millions of tons of toxic waste, thousands of destroyed ecosystems.

• UAH 1.26 trillion — land pollution and littering;
• UAH 955.8 billion — damage to the atmosphere from fires and explosions;
• UAH 21 billion — soil damage;
• more than 105 thousand hectares of forests have been destroyed or cut down;
• 75 million trees and 75 thousand animals are lost forever.

Every shelling, every explosion is not only the ruin of buildings, but also a blow to ecosystems that have been formed over centuries.

🏜️ Nature under attack: landscapes that won’t recover on their own

The war turned thousands of hectares of Ukrainian land into dead zones.

The soil structure has been destroyed, the composition of the air has changed, and hundreds of new reservoirs have formed — not from rain, but from sinkholes.

The mine danger makes even basic restoration of territories impossible.

Key ecosystems in eastern and southern Ukraine were affected: forests, steppes, and reserves.

Especially in the Donetsk region, where the nature reserve fund suffered losses of over 2 trillion UAH.

Over 45,000 hectares of protected areas are under occupation, and degradation continues daily.

“Nature is losing its ability to self-regulate. This means that there will be no harvest, forest restoration, or normal fauna on these lands for many years,” Ukrainian ecologists note.

🏗️ After the fighting, another threat: recovery without ecology

The paradox of war is that even after the liberation of territories, nature continues to suffer.

Mass resettlement, construction of temporary housing, deforestation for roads — all this increases pressure on the environment.

Much work is being done without environmental standards, remediation, or monitoring.

Ecologists emphasize: “biologists should come after the sappers, not excavators.”

The restoration of the Donetsk and Kherson regions must begin with a study of the state of soils, water, and flora – otherwise, instead of revival, we will get an ecological desert.

🌿 Long-term consequences: what we have lost and what we can still save

The environmental consequences of war are not temporary.

They are shaping a new climate reality:

• an increase in the number of dust storms in steppe regions;
• decrease in soil fertility;
• more frequent droughts and local environmental disasters;
• risk of toxic compounds entering the food chain.

This is not just “loss”, it is the loss of the country’s natural resilience.

💧 Conclusion: the ecological front is no less important than the military one

Ukraine pays for freedom not only economically, but also with nature.

But now is the time to lay the foundation for ecological restoration, not just “reconstruction.”

Ecosystems don’t need concrete, but time, science, and a strategic approach.

If we do not protect nature after the war, no victory will be complete.