Extract from ABC News
The war in Ukraine has shattered a nation, but the scars of conflict extend beyond human suffering to an often forgotten casualty: Ukraine's natural environment.
While the conflict has reportedly killed more than 50,000 people and displaced millions, the environmental impact will also take decades to heal.
Forests have been burnt down along with crucial grassland habitats, including the largest remaining stretch of the Eurasian steppe.
Ukraine's soil, air and water have been polluted by military equipment and toxic chemicals.
"We know from the [environment] ministry reports that already over 300 million-metres-squared of Ukrainian land has been polluted, which has a very significant impact on animals and people, also long after the war is over," said Céline Sissler-Bienvenu from the International Fund for Animal Welfare.
Russian forces occupy eight nature reserves, 13 national parks and two biosphere reserves, the Ukrainian Nature Conservation Group reported.
The Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources reported that roughly 40 per cent of Ukraine's territory — an area slightly bigger than the state of Victoria — is covered in minefields and unexploded bombs.
"This war has been probably the most monitored from the point of view of environmental consequences," Russian environmental activist Eugene Simonov said.
Just this week, the destruction of the Soviet-era Nova Kakhovka dam in the Russian-controlled part of southern Ukraine flooded large tracts of land and prompted dire warnings of ecological disaster.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said last year that Russia had mined the area and some worry the flooding could carry those mines into residential areas.
Mr Zelenskyy described the bursting of the dam as an act of terror and said Russia had detonated "an environmental bomb of mass destruction".
At least 150 tonnes of oil from the dam have leaked into the Dnipro river, and already the environmental damage has been estimated at 50 million euros ($80 million).
The Kazkova Dibrova zoo on the Russian-held riverbank was completely flooded and all 300 animals had died, according to a message on the zoo's Facebook account.
Officials and analysts were counting the human and environmental costs, saying settlements, thousands of people and some rare wildlife species were at risk.
But only after the war ends and affected areas can be accessed by researchers will the true extent of the damage be known.
Ukrainian environmentalist Oleksii Vasyliuk said that due to the war, Ukraine's government was unable to give protected natural areas proper conservation support, and help would be needed to restore what has been destroyed.
"As more and more protected areas and natural lands are being liberated, they require immediate attention and help to restore conservation activities and assess the damage," he said.
He wants more protected areas to be established, and is part of an initiative to channel funds and research to areas of concern as they become accessible.
Meanwhile, a new report being released on the sidelines of a UN climate summit in Bonn has calculated that the first 12 months of the war will lead to a net increase of 120 million tonnes of greenhouse gases.
That's equivalent to the annual output of a country such as Belgium.
Researchers studied a range of contributors to emissions, from fuel used by vehicles, to forest fires, to changes in energy use in Europe.
"We didn't expect the emissions of war would be so significant and it's not only the warfare itself that contributes to the emissions, but it's also the future reconstruction of the destroyed infrastructure," lead researcher Lennard de Klerk said.
'Another Chernobyl could happen'
Anthony Burke, who specialises in environmental politics and international relations at the UNSW, said the gravest environmental threat in Ukraine was the potential meltdown of Europe's largest nuclear power plant, Zaporizhzhia.
The Russian military took control of the power station in March last year and currently all six reactors are shut down.
Shelling close to the plant has disconnected power lines, knocked out radiation-detection sensors and damaged water pipes and buildings housing radioactive waste.
"It will only take one wrong move and another Chernobyl could happen," Professor Burke said in a statement.
The burst Nova Kakhovka dam provides water for the plant but the UN nuclear watchdog said Zaporizhzhia should have enough supplies from a separate pond to cool its reactors for "several months".
Meanwhile, Ukraine's chemical plants are already causing damage that could take decades to heal.
"The one town of Severodonetsk had 36 chemical plants and many of those are now ruined and are releasing toxic substances into the air, water and soil," Professor Burke said.
"If not addressed now these are issues that will continue to be felt not just in Ukraine but across the globe for many years to come."
Professor Burke said several dozen large mines left unattended in the Donbas region have been filled with groundwater, "which is bringing toxic pollutants to the land surface".
Such pollutants, as well as explosive remnants, are contaminating drinking water, damaging farming land and seeping into food supplies.
Bird species face local extinction
The consequences of the fighting are also taking a grim toll on Ukraine's wildlife.
"It has been reported that over the next couple of years we can expect to see all across Eastern Europe an extra 4,000 kilometres of impenetrable barriers and defence fortifications being built, which will divide many large mammal populations like bears, wolves, moose and deer," Professor Burke said.
"There is a genuine threat that many of the remaining local wildlife populations may go extinct as their old migratory routes are disrupted."
According to BirdLife International, Ukraine has 141 important bird habitats, covering 2.5 million hectares, which are home to 18 globally threatened bird species.
The war has damaged 600,000 hectares of critical wetland habitats, BirdLife reported.
Migratory birds are also affected, as their routes pass over conflict zones. Disoriented, they have to change their flight paths without landing and become exhausted.
"The coastline in the south of Ukraine is the most important region in Central Europe for breeding and wintering wetland birds, and for the past two years there hasn't been a breeding season for nesting waterbirds," Professor Burke said.
The White Stork, the national bird of Ukraine, is particularly vulnerable to habitat loss, with nests located in towns and cities that have been destroyed.
BirdLife International reported that, due to the constant shelling, there was a threat of local extinction of some bird species with the loss of tens of thousands birds.
The group said fuel and food shortages have forced an increase in hunting and illegal logging for cooking and heating, further affecting the habitats of forest-specialist species.
Russia has repeatedly targeted Ukraine's energy infrastructure, at times depriving millions of civilians access to electricity, water and heat.
Crucial wildlife habitats destroyed
Ukraine is said to be home to about 74,000 species of animals, plants, and fungi – representing a third of Europe's biodiversity.
Mammal species include brown bears, wolves, foxes, wildcats, martens, roe deer, wild pigs, wild horses, elk and mouflons — a breed of long-horned wild sheep.
Environmentalists say shelling, fires, increased hunting and deforestation linked to the war are threatening these animals and their habitats.
Ukraine's Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources reported 60,000 hectares of Ukraine's national parks and nature reserves have been burnt in forest fires caused by war.
Reserves have also became battlefields resulting in extensive land clearing for the building of fortifications.
The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) said these irreplaceable habitats are not only home to thousands of species, but they also serve as natural carbon sinks to combat global warming.
The animal welfare organisation has been working with local wildlife groups to rescue thousands of wild and domestic animals across Ukraine, but many areas remain inaccessible.
"Since the war began, more than 1,000 forest fires have started during combat, generating 33 million tons of CO2," said the IFAW's Charlotte von Croÿ.
"The bombing of fuel depots has also caused tons of chemicals to spill into the environment."
Human displacement has also encroached on wildlife habitats.
IFAW said their wildlife rescue field officer received a call about a group of bats that needed to be rescued from a cellar that was now a bomb shelter for humans.
On arrival, she discovered that the cellar was fully occupied by a colony of 576 rare and endangered Barbastella bats and several other bat species.
Before the war, there were an estimated 100,000 horses living in Ukraine.
IFAW said many have been displaced, killed by bombing and shelling or died of hunger or injuries.
Captive wildlife have also been rescued from zoos, sanctuaries, and other locations, including four lion cubs and a black leopard cub, which survived recent drone attacks and sporadic bombings in Kyiv.
'Every mine is the death of an animal'
Even marine life has been disturbed by deep sea mines or sonar equipment on Russian submarines in the Black Sea.
At least 700 Black Sea dolphins are known to have been killed, but Ukraine's Environment Minister Ruslan Strilets said the true number was more likely to be in the thousands.
Speaking at UN biodiversity talks COP15, held in Montreal in December last year, Mr Strilets said: "We are afraid to even imagine the scale of the tragedy after the occupation of our territory and seas."
"Almost every week, Russia launches massive missile strikes … [that] destroy a healthy living environment, and not only for humans.
"Every mine is the death of an animal."
Experts say the true scale of the damage can't be calculated until the war ends.
"It is very difficult to quantify the environmental damage caused by the war at this time, especially since the fighting is still going on and several regions are still occupied," the IFAW's Céline Sissler-Bienvenu said.
When the war is over and landscapes are safe enough, she said IFAW will support authorities in establishing a network of regional centres for the rescue and rehabilitation of wild animals.
Mr Simonov said there had been some environmental aid coming to Ukraine, but providing conservation assistance was not the focus of the country's allies.
"It's very important that more countries provide high-level support for this cause and share their experiences and capabilities with Ukraine," he said.
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