The authors saying that while much of what Russia has done in Ukraine are rightly being investigated as war crimes, some of those crimes qualify as 'ecocide' under Ukrainian and Russian law. Nuclear contamination does not stop at borders.' 'Playing with explosives at a nuclear power plant risks environmental doom – for Ukraine and for all of Europe. 'Today, we worry that an environmental disaster of even greater magnitude is looming at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant,' they add. Mr Yermak and Ms Wallstrom point to the blowing up of the Nova Kakhovka dam in June as a key example, saying it unleashed a food that has ruined dozens of towns and spilled tonnes of oil across one of the world's most valuable agricultural regions. 'The world cannot afford to ignore this growing environmental threat.' 'Toxins leak from its damaged industries and infrastructure. 'Many of Ukraine’s natural reserves – its animal and sea life, water and impressive biodiversity - have been terribly damaged or polluted,' they write. In a Guardian opinion piece co-written by former Swedish foreign minister Margot Wallstrom, Mr Yermak accuses Russia of deliberately targeting Ukraine's environment. Much of our sense of the scale of damage in Ukraine is based on measurable factors: the number of lives lost, injuries caused, buildings destroyed, missiles launched.īut we should also pay attention to the environmental damage and its unpredictable consequences - that's according to Andriy Yermak, who leads President Zelenskyy's office.

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