The environment, the silent victim of the war in Ukraine

2024-08-31 08:46:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Ukraine will sue Russia at the International Criminal Court. Even the destruction of the environment should be treated as a war crime. A sentence that would mark a novelty.

They are images that went around the world. On June 6, 2023, there were explosions at the Kakhovka dam in southeastern Ukraine. A little later the dam collapses. Masses of water cover the surrounding area with dizzying speed. They take entire settlements with them. Tens of thousands of people are affected and the exact death toll remains unclear even today.

According to Ukrainian information, about 600 tons of oil flowed from damaged industrial plants. Chemicals from the destroyed factories heavily polluted water, soil, ecosystems and farmland, United Nations experts say. War is not only a human catastrophe, but also an ecological one.

The blowing up of the Kakhovka dam may now become the subject of a possibly pioneering lawsuit against Russia.

Ukrainian authorities are currently gathering evidence to take Russia to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague for a war crimes trial.

This is also about the destruction of the environment through military actions. Ukraine accuses Russia of causing the blast, but Russia denies it.

"The environment should no longer remain a silent victim of war," says the Ukrainian Minister for the Protection of the Environment and Natural Resources, Ruslan Strilets, in an interview with DW.

What does Ukraine want?

The dam burst and flooding are just one of many environmental crimes currently being investigated by Ukrainian authorities that could become part of charges against Russia. The Ukrainian environmental authority estimates that the war damage to forests, land, air and water, caused by the Russian occupation, in over 5,000 cases, is over 57 billion euros.

Prosecutor General of Ukraine Andriy Kostin hopes to finalize the framework of the indictment by the end of the year. "The extent of contamination and damage in many areas can only be guessed, because data collection is extremely difficult," says Oleksii Vasyliuk, head of the Ukrainian environmental organization Nature Conservation Group.

However, the Ukrainian non-governmental organization Ecoaction has been able to take soil samples in several areas. Soil analysis in the Donbas fighting region showed that the entire soil is contaminated with highly toxic heavy metals as a result of the fighting. In some cases the values ??of mercury, vanadium and cadmium were over a hundred times the normal level. Heavy metals are extremely toxic in high concentrations because they accumulate in the body and often cannot be broken down. Vasyliuk says the damage to the air, water and land will continue to be felt for decades after the war ends.

Environment Minister Strilets demands that Russia be held responsible. In addition, they want to create a precedent and develop appropriate international law enforcement procedures, so that the war at the expense of the environment does not go unpunished in the future. But the procedure would take many years, if accepted by the ICC, says Aaron Dumont. He researches environmental issues in international law at the Ruhr University in Bochum. For Ukraine, it will also be about the right to pay reparations from Russia.

When is environmental damage a war crime?
The United Nations defines environmental destruction as a war crime only if it is disproportionate to the perpetrator's military advantage and causes severe, extensive and long-term damage to the population.

ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan announced in February that crimes against the environment will be prosecuted and will be more of a focus in the future. To date, no country or person has been convicted of environmental destruction as a war crime. This is also due to the unclear definition in international law, says Aaron Dumont. "It must be proven that after 10 years the destruction of the environment, which comes from these shellings or a certain form of war, will be measurable," says Dumont. In the past it has been very difficult to prove this.

Burning oil fields in Iraq

As an example, he cites a case from 1991. During the Gulf War between Kuwait and Iraq, the retreating Iraqi troops set fire to over 700 Kuwaiti oil fields, thus causing an environmental disaster in the entire region. Any normal person would say this is a war crime against the environment, says Dumont. "But in the 1990s it was very difficult for geologists to demonstrate that the effects of these fires could still be measured ten years later. It just wasn't methodologically possible."

Today is different. Thanks to satellite images and the most advanced scientific methods, Dumont believes that the chances of success in a lawsuit against Russia are in some cases very promising.

To be recognized as crimes
Including the blowing up of the Kakhovka dam. If there was a court decision, this would be a historic moment. However, it is not certain what effect the punishment would have. Russia is not a member of the Rome Statute, the basis of the ICC treaty, and does not recognize ICC rulings.

Dumont draws attention to another point. "We know from the research that it is very important for those affected, that these crimes are known. These are for example farmers or other people in the region, who are dependent on nature. They want their concerns to be addressed. be part of this process"./DW