The full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian war have a dramatic impact on every aspect of life in Ukraine and beyond. Russia continues to commit innumerable war crimes. To make the perpetrator responsible for all its crimes requires painstaking recording, which by itself demands careful counting, estimations and forecasts highlighted in relevant internationally renowned publications. So far, only a handful of scientific reports have been published, mostly in Ukrainian language, with limited availability to the international community. A substantial category of war crimes is ecocide, a purposeful devastation of ecosystems with a potential to trigger environmental disasters. Up to now almost 5.3 thousand facts of the damage to the environment as a result of Russian aggression have been documented. Over 100 million tons of pollutants and 110 tons of poisonous substances were released into the air due to fires at industrial facilities and forests. About 860 thousand m² of land was contaminated and almost 20 million m² was clogged. Tens of thousands of tons of foreign objects were dumped into the land water bodies. Seawater also badly suffered. One of the most atrocious single-event damage to the environment was the destruction of the dam of the Kakhovka Reservoir on Dnipro River in June 2023. As a result, 61 settlements were flooded, 465 tons of oil most likely got into the Dnipro River, 333 biotic species were at risk of death.

The total damage caused to the environment in Ukraine by Russian invaders is more than EUR 57 billion. Here we present a report on the environmental crimes of Russian invaders to support the international efforts to stop the aggressor and to lay ground to holding the Russian regime responsible and getting full compensations for its crimes.