Ukraine wants to make Russia pay for environmental toll of war
CBC
Missiles and mortars kill and maim people, but Russia's year-long war in Ukraine is also poisoning the air, ground and sea, says Ukraine's minister of environmental protection, who is building a case that Russia should pay for its ecological "crimes."
"We've lost some parts of our nature forever," said Ruslan Strilets in an interview from the capital, Kyiv, referring to things like contaminated groundwater and burnt forests.
Ukraine estimates the total environmental damage so far is more than $48 billion US.
From the first weeks of the war in early 2022, inspection teams across Ukraine have been sampling, photographing and recording water and soil contamination and measuring air pollution amid a constant barrage of missiles and mortars.
In June, for example, Ukraine says Russian missiles tore into a shopping mall in Kremenchuk, killing 20 people. According to the State Environmental Inspectorate, the inferno and billowing black smoke also spewed 2,200 tonnes of pollutants into the air, including ammonia, benzopyrene and sulfur trioxide.
Air pollution has increased by three to four times since the war began, even with industrial production at only about 30 per cent of pre-war output, says the environment minister.
"In the first days of the war, I realized that war is not limited to the fears of people, but it spreads to every living thing," said Olena Kryvoruchkina, a Ukrainian MP and chief co-ordinator of the Operational Headquarters, which is collecting data and evidence of environmental ruin.
"We can quickly rebuild a bridge or a house, but it will take decades to renew the nature that they've destroyed," she said. But, she added, "we will try."
Ukraine hasn't worked out the mechanics, but it is mounting a case for ecological damage from the war to be a sizeable part of any future compensation. The huge challenge will be to prove alleged crimes in any international court and force Russia to pay.
For now, Ukraine is gathering data and building international support.
Russia's targeting of Ukrainian fuel depots and refineries, for example, has sparked massive fires that have released harmful pollutants including soot, methane and carbon dioxide. Since the invasion began, more than 600,000 tonnes of petroleum products have been burned, according to the latest statistics from the environment ministry.
"This is a danger to the health of Ukrainians. These burning oil depots and other air pollutants due to war operations end up in people's lungs, and can cause horrible illnesses," said Kryvoruchkina.
But scientists say the damage goes beyond people.
A chemical tanker struck by a Russian missile a day after the invasion began polluted the Black Sea, says Ukraine. A satellite photo taken nearly a month later shows a slick covering 2,000 square kilometres, according to Ukraine's Institute of Marine Biology.
Run 3 Space | Play Space Running Game
Traffic Jam 3D | Online Racing Game
Duck Hunt | Play Old Classic Game
A suspended Moncton structural engineer faces more lawsuits alleging design flaws in buildings that require repair.
Sajjade Tugano has come a long way since he first set foot in Chibougamau, six hours north of Quebec City, in the depths of winter in November 2021.
A national mentor-based hockey organization that helps marginalized youth through the sport is paying tribute to one of its members and youngest coaches.
After months of asking the City of Saskatoon to do more to solve its homelessness crisis, advocate David Fineday took to the stand at city council Tuesday.
A community organization wants to breathe new life into a historic building in Regina.
Some Prince County residents are walking away with more answers after attending Tuesday night's public information session in Albany, P.E.I., on the Wejipek Wind Project.
After just a few months of using vape detectors in a couple of bathrooms, a B.C. high school principal says it's reduced vape use in those areas to basically zero.
Burlington MP Karina Gould gets boost from local young people after entering Liberal leadership race
A day after entering the Liberal leadership race, Burlington, Ont., MP and government House leader Karina Gould was cheered at a campaign launch party by local residents — including young people expressing hope the 37-year-old politician will represent their voices.
Anold Mulaisho was born intersex and wonders where they fit in, in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump's executive order for the United States to recognize only two sexes, male and female.
WARNING: This story contains references to suicide.
Subway service is down on Line 1 between Sheppard West and Lawrence West due to a broken power rail, the TTC said Wednesday morning.
A long-term care home in Toronto's Yorkville neighbourhood has cleared one more hurdle to add desperately needed beds to its property, a move that's been praised by housing advocates but opposed by locals concerned about the impact on the neighbourhood.
A Charlottetown resident is calling on the P.E.I. government to do more to protect homeowners after reading about a recent oil spill very similar to one on his Montague property 20 years ago, which he says ruined him financially.
WARNING: This story includes details of abuse.
Two years after Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly declared she was taking the unprecedented step of moving to confiscate millions of dollars from a sanctioned Russian oligarch with assets in Canada, the government has not actually begun the court process to forfeit the money, let alone to hand it over to Ukrainian reconstruction — and it may never happen.
Alberta business and oilpatch leaders are returning home from Washington this week after the U.S. presidential inauguration festivities — and gritting their teeth after a roller-coaster of emotions.
Youth workers in Toronto's Jane and Finch area are flipping the script on negative stereotypes about their communities with a new fundraising campaign that offers anti-bias training in exchange for donations to bolster their programming.
In a sudden move that came late Tuesday evening, city officials rolled out cots and temporarily opened a warm building in east London as frigid temperatures continued.