Ukraine conflict fuels environmental catastrophe: Report warns
The Ukrainian Ministry of Environment and local NGOs are warning of a significant ecological disaster risk. They claim that by attacking Ukraine, Russia has caused harmful compounds and gases to enter the atmosphere through bombings and arson, exacerbating the climate crisis.
The war in Ukraine has been ongoing for over two years. During this time, in the war-affected areas, in Russia, and countries experiencing hybrid warfare, there have been tens of thousands of hazardous fires. This, combined with numerous bombings and the enormous amount of fuel consumed by military equipment, contributes to the ecological disaster.
A report from the Ukrainian ministry on this topic has been published, cited by "The Guardian." According to the report, Ukrainians state that 160 million tonnes of carbon dioxide have been released into the atmosphere due to the ongoing war.
"Billions of litres of fuel used by military vehicles, a million hectares of fields and forests set ablaze, hundreds of oil and gas structures blown up and vast amounts of steel and cement used to fortify hundreds of miles of front lines" - these are cited by "The Guardian" as reasons for such high emissions according to the report's creators.
Emissions equivalent to those produced by 90 million cars
The scale of the problem, with such a large amount of carbon dioxide being emitted into the atmosphere, is enormous. The mere fact that it is equivalent to that produced by 90 million cars or all of the Netherlands in a year is alarming.
Based on the social costs for emitted greenhouse gases adopted by the EU at $185 per tonne, it was found that the war caused $32 billion in damages in two years.
However, this is not the final cost because the conflict in Ukraine is still ongoing, and the largest source of emissions is still active. The war's end, however, will not conclude this process because a large part of the 160 million tonnes also includes emissions from the production of steel and concrete needed to rebuild the country.
Including the damage to nature likely caused by the deliberate damage by Russians to the underwater gas pipeline, we reach an enormous scale of destruction. According to the creators of the discussed report, Vladimir Putin is responsible for these damages.
