Schmyhal was quoted by the ukrinform.net website as saying that “the Russian attack on the Kakhovka dam was the largest act of ecocide in the last 70 years,” and that “the total damage caused by this attack alone exceeds EUR 3.8 billion.
“According to the Ukrainian Environment ministry, the total damage to the environment cause by Russia’s aggression amounts to 55,6 billion euros.”
“Half of the losses were caused by air pollution due to forest fires, rocket attacks, and burning oil. Soil pollution amounts to 25 billion euros, and water pollution totals at 1.5 billion euros,” Schmyhal said.
The Ukrainian Prime Minister also stressed that an estimated 174,000 square kilometres of Ukrainian territory has been mined, and three million hectares have been damaged due to war operations.
On June 6, the massive Kakhovka dam in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region broke, causing widespread flooding and immense damage, with more than 40 people dead or remaining missing, news outlets reported at the time, adding there was evidence that the dam’s destruction was instigated by an inside explosion set off by Russia.
The destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric dam on Ukraine’s Dnipro river has caused EUR 1.2 billion of damage, Ukrainian Environment Minister Ruslan Strilets has told his European Union counterparts at the time.
A group of international legal experts aiding Ukraine's prosecutors in their investigation into the Kakhovka dam blast issued preliminary findings, stating that it was highly likely the breaching of the dam in Ukraine's Kherson southern region had been caused by explosives planted by the Russians, according to Reuters.
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Source: ukrinform.net
