Environmental Agony in Wartime and Some of the Consequences of Russia’s Destruction of the Kakhovka Dam
Sasha Dovzhyk’s recent CNN article concludes with the following poignant lines: “Although wars unfold in landscapes, and although control over landscapes is among the wars’ declared aims, one chiefly relies on human testimonies to document, expose and interpret the wars’ effects. The destruction of a natural landscape is as much of a war crime as the destruction of human life. Like a human body, the body of a land can hurt. And for its agony, justice must be served.”[1] In what follows, which is an excerpt of a book project that I am working on at present, I draw attention to some of Ukraine’s environmental agony. (The book chapter will include a discussion of some of the key articles of international humanitarian and international criminal law vis-à-vis environmental harm during wartime, an analysis of the history and meaning of ecocide, and a preliminary argument that Russia’s destruction of the Kakhovka Dam constitutes an act of ecocide and should be treated and prosecuted as an environmental war crime.)
In an article in the Washington Post published on March 13, 2023, entitled, “The war in Ukraine is a human tragedy. It’s also an environmental disaster,” Jeff Stein and Michael Birnbaum lay out the grim realities of the environmental devastation often overlooked in Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. Their story opens with an account of a Russian cruise missile strike on an oil depot in Kryvyi Rih, in which “more than 1 million gallons of oil from eight incinerated tanks seeped into the soil, raising concerns about potential contamination at a nearby drinking water reservoir in this industrial city about 200 miles south of Kyiv.”[2] In addition to the tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers, combatants, and civilians killed in this war and the tens of thousands more than have been maimed, tortured, violated, and traumatized in ways that leave lasting effects, Russia has also terrorized, tortured, violated, and killed domestic and wild animals (including zoo animals), polluted its lakes and rivers, poisoned its soil, and destroyed its forests. These environmental losses and harms will likewise have long-term consequences. Such consequences not only impact Ukrainians and all life-forms within Ukraine, but, given our global natural and social interconnectedness, they also impact global food chains, greenhouse gas emissions, and marine life in the Black Sea.[3]
According to a July 2023 report from the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine,“in 500 days since the full-scale Russian invasion began, Ukraine has recorded about 2,500 cases of environmental damage estimated at over UAH 2 trillion (USD 56 bln).”[4] The most seriously impacted regions are Donetsk, Luhansk, and Kharkiv; however, these figures are merely preliminary estimates, as occupied areas cannot be fully accessed and the war is ongoing. The environmental consequences of the Russian terrorist attack on the Kakhovka Dam was not included in the aforementioned study; however, my analysis below includes the event in order to highlight some of the cataclysmic environmental harm wrought by Russia’s detonation of the dam.
At the recent (July 2023) Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Conference on Climate Change in Vienna, Ukrainian Minister of Environmental Protection Ruslan Strilets and other conference participants discussed possible ways to hold Russia accountable for the environmental devastation it has caused in Ukraine. Highlighting the global impact of Russia’s war, Strilets explains, “Russia is at war not only with Ukraine, but also with the entire civilized world. There is not a single country that will not be affected by the climatic consequences of the Russian invasion. Democracies are investing millions of dollars in achieving climate neutrality. Russia cancels the efforts of everyone for whom the fight against climate change is a priority with its missiles and ammunition.”[6]
As another study notes, the “greenhouse gas emissions for seven months of the full-scale war totals at least 100 million tCO2e [metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent]. This is the equivalent of the total GHG emissions over the same period in a country like The Netherlands.”[7] As a result of emissions from detonated bombs, ammunitions, and other weapons, as well as forest fires, burning oil depots, other war-related fires, and emissions generated from the need to rebuild destroyed infrastructure, Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine is actively thwarting global goals to “reduce GHG emissions” in order “to limit the average global temperature increase to 1.5 ºC.”[8]
One of the most horrific instances of environmental terrorism in the war to date is the Russian explosion of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant Dam. Although there are many other catastrophic impacts related to this event such as its effects on human health and well-being, the economy, energy, and nuclear safety, my discussion focuses only on the consequences to plant and wildlife—and my brief comments merely scratch the surface of the environmental destruction and long-term effects to Ukraine’s biotic communities and ecosystem. A report by the Ukrainian Nature Conservation Group states that the Kakhovka reservoir was the habitat for around 43 fish species. According to current estimates, “It will take a minimum of 7–10 years” for the fish stocks to be restored, as the areas where fish reproduce and the primary bodies of water where they live have been completely devastated and rendered uninhabitable.[9] With the destruction of the fish population, it is likely that the “vast majority of all living organisms that inhabited the Kakhovka Reservoir” will likewise die. Because of the cataclysmic decrease of the water level in the reservoir, aquatic and riparian plants (i.e., plants that grow along the banks of rivers or other bodies of water) of the Kakhovka Reservoir will disappear, and invasive or non-native alien plants will displace them, thus further negatively impacting biodiversity and the ecosystem.[10]
In addition to the fish population, the bird population has also suffered. Within the flood zone, crucial nesting sites for water and shorebird species have been destroyed, resulting in the deaths of tens of thousands of individual birds. Additionally, the lower Dnipro floodplains, which house the largest colonies of herons and other colonial birds in the region, have been severely impacted by the catastrophic event. Birds and their fledglings have experienced extensive harm and devastation during their nesting period. Unfortunately, there is insufficient time for the establishment of new colonies and subsequent breeding, which means that migratory fledglings will not appear by the end of summer 2023. Consequently, various bird species including herons, terns, ducks, rails, moorhens, and mute swans will lose their nesting colonies. It is anticipated that their populations can recover; however, this will likely take 3 to 7 years.[11] Additionally, Russia’s destruction of the Kakhovka Dam has significant negative consequences for numerous nature preserves and protected areas in Ukraine. A considerable portion of the affected region located within the flood zone holds national and international nature-protection status. Approximately 47 national protected areas, including notable sites such as the Black Sea Biosphere Reserve, National Nature Parks Ivory Coast of Sviatoslav, Lower Dnipro, Oleshky Sands, and seven Emerald Network sites have been impacted in various degrees of severity by the flooding.[12] The Black Sea Biosphere Reserve has been under protection since 1927 and is recognized as part of the UNESCO World Network of Biosphere Reserves. The total area of flooded protected sites could well exceed 120,000 hectares.[13] The study concludes by stating that “the consequences of the terrorist act, the destruction of the Kakhovka HPP by Russia, are catastrophic for nature and people. The scale of destruction of wildlife, natural ecosystems, and entire national parks is incomparably greater than the consequences for the wilderness of all military operations since the start of the full-scale invasion in February 2022.”
The harm, devastation, and resultant destruction of life caused by Russia’s heinous act as outlined and discussed in this essay is only part of the nightmare-that-is-reality which continues to unfold in Russia’s cruel and unjust war against Ukraine’s people, culture, non-human animals, natural environment—and one could say, against everything that lives, moves, and has its being in Ukraine. To quote again Sasha Dovzhyk’s poignant words, “The destruction of a natural landscape is as much of a war crime as the destruction of human life. Like a human body, the body of a land can hurt. And for its agony, justice must be served.”
[N.b. As noted above, in this brief essay, I do not discuss the evidence that points to Russia as the responsible party for the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam. However, in my chapter, I do discuss the multiple lines of evidence for my claim. For those interested in reading some of the investigative reporting on this evidence, see Glanz, James, Marc Santora, Pablo Robles, Haley Willis, Lauren Leatherby, Christoph Koettl and Dmitriy Khavin, “Why the Evidence Suggests Russia Blew Up the Kakhovka Dam,” New York Times, June 16, 2023; https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/06/16/world/europe/ukraine-kakhovka-dam-collapse.html#:~:text=A%20small%20passageway%20runs%20through,telltale%20signs%20of%20large%20explosions.]
[1] Sasha Dovzhyk, “Don’t be fooled by the flowery name. Russia’s ‘petal’ mines are the stuff of nightmares,” CNN May18, 2023; https://edition.cnn.com/2023/05/17/opinions/russia-ukraine-petal-landmine-environment-dovzhyk/index.html.
[2] Jeff Stein and Michael Birnbaum, “The war in Ukraine is a human tragedy. It’s also an environmental disaster.” Washington Post March 13, 2023; https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/03/13/ukraine-war-environment-impact-disaster/.
[3] For example, as a result of the dam’s destruction and the subsequent flooding, “a toxic flow of unexploded mines, thousands of tonnes of chemicals, sewage, dead animals, uprooted trees, poisonous silt deposits containing dioxin and other toxic substances have now burst into the Black Sea” (Aleksandra Klitina, “Destruction of the Kakhovka Dam Spells Disaster for the Black Sea Coast,” June 14, 2023; https://visegradinsight.eu/destruction-of-kakhovka-dam-spells-disaster-for-the-black-sea-coast/).
[4] “Briefing on the environmental damage caused by the Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine (July 6-12, 2023),” Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine; accessed July 15, 2023; https://ecozagroza.gov.ua/en/news/124.
[6] “Ruslan Strilets: The war of the Russian Federation against Ukraine affects the climate security and climate actions of the whole world,” July 7, 2023; https://mepr.gov.ua/ruslan-strilets-vijna-rf-proty-ukrayiny-vplyvaye-na-klimatychnu-bezpeku-ta-klimatychni-diyi-usogo-svitu/.
[7] Leonard de Klerk, Anatolii Shmurak, Olga Gassan-Zade, Mykola Shlapak, Kyryl Tomliak, and Adriaan Korthuis, “Climate Damage caused by Russia’s War in Ukraine,” (November 1, 2022), 4; https://climatefocus.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/ClimateDamageinUkraine.pdf. The term “tCO2e” stands for metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent. It is a unit of measurement used to express the global warming potential (GWP) of greenhouse gases other than carbon dioxide (CO2) in terms of the amount of CO2 that would have the same warming effect. Different greenhouse gases have different warming potentials; thus, communicating their emissions in terms of CO2 equivalent allows for easier comparison and aggregation. For example, Methane (CH4) is a potent greenhouse gas, which means that it has a higher GWP than CO2. If a certain activity or source emits a certain amount of methane, it can be converted into its CO2 equivalent (tCO2e) to give a clearer understanding of its impact on climate change.
[8] Leonard de Klerk et al, “Climate Damage caused by Russia’s War in Ukraine,” (November 1, 2022), 5.
[9] “The consequences of the Russian terrorist attack on the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant (HPP) for wildlife,” June 7, 2023; Ukrainian Nature Conservation Group; https://uncg.org.ua/en/the-consequences-of-the-russian-terrorist-attack-on-the-kakhovka-hydroelectric-power-station-hps-for-wildlife/.
[10] “The consequences of the Russian terrorist attack on the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant (HPP) for wildlife,” June 7, 2023; Ukrainian Nature Conservation Group; https://uncg.org.ua/en/the-consequences-of-the-russian-terrorist-attack-on-the-kakhovka-hydroelectric-power-station-hps-for-wildlife/.
[11] “The consequences of the Russian terrorist attack on the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant (HPP) for wildlife,” June 7, 2023; Ukrainian Nature Conservation Group; https://uncg.org.ua/en/the-consequences-of-the-russian-terrorist-attack-on-the-kakhovka-hydroelectric-power-station-hps-for-wildlife/.
[12] “The Emerald Network consists of nature conservation areas across Europe that are designed to preserve species and habitats threatened with extinction. The network was established to fulfill the requirements of the Berne Convention.” In Ukraine there are currently 377 protected areas and 162 proposed areas. Thirty percent of the currently protected areas have been impacted by the war or occupation. (Valeriia Kolodezhna, “Emerald Network in Ukraine,” Ukraine War Environmental Consequences Group, October 9, 2022; https://uwecworkgroup.info/emerald-network-in-ukraine/).
[13] “The consequences of the Russian terrorist attack on the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant (HPP) for wildlife,” June 7, 2023; Ukrainian Nature Conservation Group; https://uncg.org.ua/en/the-consequences-of-the-russian-terrorist-attack-on-the-kakhovka-hydroelectric-power-station-hps-for-wildlife/. To help readers visualize the vastness of the damage from the flooding, one hectare is roughly the size of 2.5 European soccer fields. Therefore, 120,000 hectares would be approximately equivalent to 300,000 European soccer fields.