The war has redrawn the ecological map of Ukraine, turning entire regions into testing grounds for irreversible changes. Forests in the east risk becoming toxic "red zones" for decades, while the mined steppes of the south are rapidly degrading without care, losing their unique biodiversity.
How do hostilities change Ukraine's ecosystems? The situation was commented on in an interview with RBC-Ukraine by Yakiv Didukh, Academician of the NAS of Ukraine, head of the Department of Geobotany and Ecology at the M.G. Kholodny Institute of Botany of the NAS of Ukraine. The scholar explained how the war is destroying the environment, what is happening at the site of the Kakhovka Reservoir, and how scientists are preparing to prove the fact of ecocide in international courts.
Photo: Yakiv Didukh, Academician of the NAS of Ukraine (RBC-Ukraine infographic)