Dear Friends!
Today, Russia has renewed its energy terrorism attacks in Ukraine. Increasingly, thermal power plants, hydroelectric power plants (HPPs), and other energy centers are under attack. These attacks are made with the intent to sow panic among Ukrainians and to bring about the collapse of the country’s energy supply system. A number of large cities, including Kharkiv, have been left without power due to this shelling. Kyiv’s Trypilska, the city’s largest thermal power plant was destroyed. Ukraine’s response has been to conduct targeted strikes on Russian oil refineries. This results not only in disruptions to energy infrastructure and temporary blackouts, but also has a serious impact on the environment, such as petroleum product spills and atmospheric emissions at thermal power plants and gas and oil storage facilities. Restoring energy systems also requires additional resources.
Dniprovska HPP was damaged by shelling on 22 March. Its destruction has the potential to result in a localized environmental catastrophe, as occurred at Kakhovka HPP in June 2023. Although the dam was not breached at this time, the shelling did cause a fuel leak that is polluting the Dnipro River watershed:
Environmental problems caused by the war are aggravating the consequences of climate change. The first month of spring not only broke temperature records, but was also marked by severe flooding. Although the situation in Ukraine was not as catastrophic as in Russia and Kazakhstan, where the Orenburg and Aktobe regions were inundated, spring floods are nevertheless significantly changing the landscape, especially in war-affected areas. In particular, the basin of the former Kakhovka reservoir was flooded again. Read about spring floods around Kakhovka and the war’s other environmental consequences in our monthly review:
The war is also changing supply chains, directly affecting environmental conservation in different countries. We have written previously about the environmental impacts of navigational changes on the Danube River brought about by Russia’s full-scale invasion. Over the past year, the situation has not improved and today the Danube Biosphere Reserve in the Danube River delta is also threatened. Dredging and other canal expansion work not only reduce the success of biodiversity restoration programs, but also interfere with the operations of protected areas.
The war’s effects can be felt even in the Arctic. Programs studying this region – an area experiencing catastrophic damage from climate change – are on the verge of failure after the start of the full-scale invasion. Without scientific collaboration, it is almost impossible to conduct international research in the Arctic. Meanwhile, the outbreak of Russia’s full-scale war in Ukraine has resulted in the growing isolation of Russia’s scientific community. Both the West and Russia itself are refusing to engage in cooperation, increasingly resulting in closing scientific spaces behind a new “Iron Curtain”. Margaret Williams, senior fellow at the Arctic Initiative at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, examines ways to avoid the loss of collaborative research efforts focused on the Arctic:
The consequences of the war in Ukraine will affect life and ecology in the region, perhaps for decades. It is important not only to collect data today, but also to seek solutions to these environmental problems. In 2023 and 2024 we collaborated with Reporters Without Borders and the Svea Green Foundation on a webinar series sharing data collection methods and ways of covering the war’s environmental consequences. UWEC experts and members of our editorial team are also regularly invited to present at other events. You can read a summary of these events, as well watch them in this special summary:
You can read all of our analysis and news of the environmental consequences of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on our website, on Twitter (X), and on Facebook and Telegram.
We wish you strength and peace!
Alexej Ovchinnikov
Editor, UWEC Work Group