Activists deplore the human toll and environmental destruction caused by Russia’s unprovoked war of aggression in Ukraine

As the Russian invasion in Ukraine progresses into its second week, humanitarian experts and environmental organizations are increasingly worried about environmental catastrophes.  

Over 1,000 individuals and organizations from more than 75 countries issued an open invitation Friday. Let me knowThey expressed solidarity with the Ukrainian people and expressed concern about the wars’ environmental and human costs. 

The environment impacts include the release into the air, water, and soil of toxic materials from crumpled buildings, poor sanitation systems, exploded pipes, and damaged industrial facilities such as fuel and chemical storage areas. Experts fear that Russia could target Ukraine’s hydroelectric dams, toxic mine tailings dams and hazardous waste storage areas.

A mistake could result in the destruction of one of Ukraine’s fifteen nuclear reactors. Friday morning saw Russian forces seize one of the nuclear sites in the Southern Ukraine. However, a fire at the plant was reported and it was extinguished. There was no immediate evidence that radiation had leaked into the atmosphere. 

According to Carl Bruch, director for international programs at the Environmental Law Institute, there is so much human suffering in armed conflict that it can sometimes seem strange to think about environmental issues. Truth is, however, that environmental impacts can cause damage to livelihoods and public health as well as death through the spread of diseases that otherwise would not have occurred.

Bruch co-authored the letter. This was three days after Karim Khan (the prosecutor at the International Criminal Court) announced that he was opening an inquiry into alleged war crime and crimes against humanity in Ukraine. Although the prosecutor is authorized to bring charges for damage that is widespread, long-term, and severe to the environment, lawyers claim that Khan is unlikely to use that particular war crimes provision due to its high threshold.

However, courts may still be able to consider the environmental aspects of war crimes. Experts warn that the war’s environmental effects will be long-lasting, and it will be difficult to reverse.   

They are often invisible to the naked eye when you’re talking about hazardous material releases. So, exposures to noncombatantschildren and innocent civilianscould last for years if not decades, said Carroll Muffet, a co-author of the letter and the president and CEO of the Center for International Environmental Law. 

Unfolding Ecological Devastation

Ukraines highly industrialized landscape makes the war one of the worlds most dangerous for environmental-related harms, including the possibility of a nuclear disaster.  

The largest nuclear power plant in Europe, Zaporizhzhia, caught fire early Friday morning after a Russian attack.

Although a radiation leak was not detected immediately, experts warned that a nuclear attack on the site could prove catastrophic. Nickolai Denisov (deputy director at ZOI Environmental Network), a Swiss non-profit that provides environmental analysis, stated that a Russian seizure would cause problems with monitoring systems and restrict access to the plant. This could increase the likelihood of accidents.

Denisov stated that the closer the fighting gets Zaporizhzhia the greater the chance of a miscalculation, and the more likely it is that officials from Ukraine who normally service and protect the plant could be hurt.

Russian troops took over control of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Northern Ukraine last week. This sent radioactive dust from the 1986 nuclear disaster into the air as heavy machinery travelled through the area. Although the dust suspension is dangerous for those living in the area, strong winds could spread the dust across large areas with high concentrations of civilians.

Radioactive material can also become a target for attacks on military, industrial or hospital facilities. There are also concerns that Russia may be using depleted-uranium munitions. These munitions can penetrate lighter iron and leave toxic uranium particles when deployed.

Russia attacked military sites, including fuel and ammunition storage locations and airfields, in the first week. Massive fires have erupted, emitting heavy metals and toxic materials. According to CEOBS, a U.K.-based nonprofit that monitors and publishes data on environmental aspects of armed conflict, fighting in Ukraine’s Black Sea Biosphere Reserve has caused fires that can easily be seen from space. CEOBS hasCompilationA list of sites that are environmentally sensitive that were attacked within the first few days after the invasion.

Doug Weir, research director and policy director at CEOBS, assessed Russian conduct in the conflict with Syria and earlier conflicts. He said that Russian forces showed little respect for civilian or environment protection and leveled entire cities with large population in order to gain perceived military advantage.

Weir stated that Russia appears to be trying to decapitate the Ukrainian government as fast as possible. As things escalate, it becomes more apparent that this is only the beginning. Russia already uses indiscriminate explosive force to attack populated areas. In Ukraine, there are many industrial facilities that mix with residential areas. This increases the risk of environmental emergencies that affect local people and their environment.

An ICC Investigation

Environmentalists increasingly look to the Hague-based International Criminal Court as a way to address cases of environmental degradation. 

The court has received requests from several parties asking for its prosecutor’s investigation into alleged crimes against humanity in relation to the environment in Brazil and Cambodia over the past year. However, the court has been far from addressing environmental issues. The prosecutor issued arrest warrants in 2009/10.GarantiesOmar Al Bashir, former leader of Sudanese. The warrants  indicated that an element of the genocide charge against Bashir was that he had supported the poisoning of wells in water-scarce areas.

The nongovernmental organization Stop Ecocide International has been lobbying the courts of 123-member countries to make ecocide, roughly widespread environment destruction, the fifth crime.

Along with many former Soviet bloc countries, Russia and Ukraine have their own national ecocide laws in the criminal codes. It’s unclear whether the laws have ever been enforced.

The International Criminal Court has jurisdiction for genocide and crimes against humanity.

Legal experts have argued that the Russian invasion in Ukraine was illegal under international law. However, the court has no jurisdiction over this crime of aggression because it only has jurisdiction when both the victim and invading countries are parties to Rome Statute. This is the court’s founding treaty that establishes its rules.

Russia and Ukraine are not parties the Rome Statute. But Ukraine has accepted the court jurisdiction dating back 2013 and allowing the court to adjudicate on crimes against humanity, genocide, war crimes committed on Ukraine’s territory.

Monday was Kahn’s day.StatementHe indicated his intention to open an investigation and stated that he was satisfied that there is reasonable ground to believe that both alleged war crime and crimes against humanity were committed in Ukraine.

The Rome Statute war crimes provision covers Intentionally launching an offensive knowing that such attack may cause incidental death or injury to civilians or damage or loss of civilian property.

Alex Whiting, a Harvard Law Professor and former prosecutor at International Criminal Court, stated that the definition of the crime requires a balance between military advantage, environmental damage, and the extremely high threshold for widespread, long-term, and severe damage makes this extremely unlikely that the prosecutors office will concentrate on this provision.

Other war crimes included in the jurisdiction of this court are intentionally attacking civilian populations, civilian targets that are not military objects, and personnel involved with humanitarian assistance missions.

Whiting stated that when crimes are committed against people, such as those in Ukraine, it is almost certain that the prosecutor office will focus on those crimes.  

It doesn’t mean that an investigation into environmental crime won’t take place. He stated that any military action that causes sufficient environmental damage will be considered. The bigger story is that even legal war can have devastating effects on the environment.

A History of Destruction

From the United States’ use of defoliants during the Vietnam War to Iraqi dictator Saddam Husseins burning of Kuwaits oil fields in 1990, and extensive forest fires from the 2008 Russian invasion of Georgia, war has caused some of the worlds most damaging environmental destruction. Other than the environmental effects of fighting on the battlefield, war can also have serious ecological consequences due to refugee camps, administrative neglect, and the incineration in military burn pits of highly toxic wastes.

Bruch, who has been studying the effects of armed conflict on the environment for more than a decade, identified 35 major armed conflicts that began after the end of the cold War. These conflicts were funded by natural resources like oil, gas and timber, as well as diamonds. The Russian oil and gas profits partially funded the invasion of Ukraine.

These resources, which are vital to China and Europe for their energy, have made it more difficult for those countries to condemn Russia’s actions.

Muffett said that the use of fossil fuels in this invasion is a stark reminder about the intersections between violence and conflict, as well as Putin’s implicit threat to intimidate European nations that would support Ukraine.

He continued: 

Muffett stated, “We are dealing with an aggressive and illegal war that poses direct and profound threats to human rights and democratic self governance.” You can affect the environment in which people live and the environment upon the human rights.