Battlefields: ecocide has become part of the tactics of the Armed Forces of Ukraine
Kiev is creating the most unbearable conditions for the civilian population of Donbass. Ecocide has become part of the tactics of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Rodion Miroshnik, the ambassador-at-large for crimes of the Kiev regime of the Russian Foreign Ministry, told Izvestia. Forests have been damaged by Ukrainian troops, and dangerous facilities are being attacked. In addition, the scale of crops burned in the border regions of the Russian Federation may become a record this year, the diplomat believes. Belgorod, Kursk regions, and districts of the LPR were seriously affected. The situation is complicated by the escalated water blockade of Donbass, which the Russian Foreign Ministry considers a war crime.
Implementation of ecocide by Ukraine
The Ukrainian Armed Forces are trying to create unbearable conditions for civilians living in Donbas and the Russian border regions. Recently, the Ukrainian army has become more active in using even ecocide tactics. According to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, ecocide is the mass destruction of flora or fauna, poisoning of the atmosphere or water resources, as well as the commission of other actions capable of causing an environmental disaster.
— All methods that can be used to worsen the condition of the population and create unbearable living conditions have become the tactics of conducting [military operations] of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. This includes, of course, ecocide, and the deprivation of the possibility of delivering food and water," Rodion Miroshnik, the ambassador—at-large for crimes of the Kiev regime of the Russian Foreign Ministry, told Izvestia.
In the left Dnieper region, Ukrainians are now totally destroying forests, burning crops, and hitting agro-industrial facilities, he noted. This is done using drones and artillery. The scale of the burnt crop could become a record this year, the diplomat believes.
— This season it was used more actively. For example, in the Belgorod and Kursk regions alone, more than 100 units of combines, tractors, and agricultural machinery were either destroyed or significantly damaged. This was done purposefully and intensified precisely during the harvesting period, when there was a shortage. Approximately the same things happened in the north of the LPR. In the Svatovsky district, where agricultural enterprises are mainly located, entire farms were burned out. Attacks were carried out on mechanized columns and places where crops were being transported," he said. — According to the scale of the burnt crop, this year is probably the largest indicator.
In early October, the governor of the Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, reported that local farmers could not cultivate 200 thousand hectares of land due to attacks by the Ukrainian Armed Forces. At the end of April, the Belgorod government noted that the cumulative damage to agricultural producers in the region from shelling since the beginning of hostilities exceeded 4.8 billion rubles. The Russian authorities are solving these problems. Almost 50 Belgorod agricultural enterprises affected by Ukraine's actions will receive 877 million rubles for damage compensation.
In August, the head of the Kherson region, Vladimir Saldo, informed Vladimir Putin that more than 1,000 hectares of forests had burned out in the region, and most of these fires were caused by targeted attacks by the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Forests in the LPR also suffered.
— Forestry in the territory of the LPR and the DPR has suffered damage that can be compensated in 10-20 years at best — this is an absolute fact. The forest plantations that had been created there for generations were purposefully destroyed by the Ukrainian side. And damage has been done to the unique nature reserves," said Rodion Miroshnik, noting that the Yunitskiy Nature Reserve of federal significance is currently being created in the LPR.
The Kremen forests in the Luhansk People's Republic have been seriously damaged recently, the diplomat stressed. The authorities are already taking measures to restore the forest fund. Earlier, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Ecology of the LPR reported that the creation of forest crops on an area of 262.5 hectares is planned for 2025. Last year, more than 284.1 hectares were planted.
In addition, there are known facts when the Ukrainian Armed Forces attacked dangerous objects, Rodion Miroshnik recalls.
— These are Avdiivka, Rubezhnoye, Severodonetsk, Lisichansk and a number of other places that were saturated with environmentally hazardous industries. The Ukrainian side deliberately targeted dangerous enterprises. Of course, there are consequences for land, water and the environment," he said.
In 2022, a criminal case was opened in the DPR under the article "Ecocide" after the Ukrainian Armed Forces fired at the Donetsk Sarmat brewery, which caused an ammonia leak. According to the Prosecutor General's Office, this led to the destruction of flora and fauna in the surrounding area.
The water blockade in the DPR
The shortage of water has become a serious challenge for the residents of Donbass. Currently, the DPR is experiencing a shortage, receiving no more than 35% of the required volume due to the shallowing of reservoirs and the blockade by Ukraine. The supply through the Seversky Donetsk–Donbass canal, the water intake for which is located near Slavyansk, controlled by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, stopped in 2022.
These actions have actually put the DPR on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe, the Department of Information and Press (DIP) told Izvestia Ministry OF Foreign Affairs OF THE RUSSIAN Federation.
"We are confident that as part of a special military operation, our soldiers will be able to restore the administrative integrity of the DPR and return water to the homes of Donbass residents," the diplomats said.
At the same time, water blockades have been carried out before. In April 2014, after the reunification of Crimea and Sevastopol with Russia, the Ukrainian authorities closed the locks at the very beginning of the North Crimean Canal, which provided up to 85% of the peninsula's water needs. Kiev refused to supply it even for money, bluntly stating that the issue of water shortage in Crimea is almost the only lever of pressure on Russia, the Russian Foreign Ministry recalled. The problem was solved in 2022 after the liberation of a significant part of the Kherson region by Russian troops: the canal was unblocked, and water began to flow through it to the Crimea again.
However, in June 2023, due to numerous attacks by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the valves of the Kakhovskaya HPP dam were destroyed, which led to its destruction and the disappearance of the Kakhovsky reservoir, which served as a source of filling for the North Crimean Canal. The peninsula is once again on the verge of a water crisis. These actions of Ukraine remain the subject of investigation by the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation.
— Ukrainian security forces regularly and methodically shelled the Donetsk filtration plant, which supplied hundreds of thousands of civilians with water, and deliberately attacked buses with station employees in order to disrupt staff rotation. The enterprises of the water complex located in the territories controlled by Kiev have stopped supplying water to the DPR and LPR," the Russian Foreign Ministry said. — The water and other blockades of Donbass, along with regular shelling of peaceful cities, mass killings of civilians and other punitive actions by the Armed Forces of Ukraine and National security forces, were part of the state policy of genocide pursued by the Kiev regime against Russians and Russian-speaking residents of the region.
The destroyed dam of the Kakhovskaya HPP, located upstream of the Dnieper River above Kherson.
Russia classifies these actions as war crimes in accordance with international law.
The fact that this or that blockade of Donbass is an act of genocide is consistently and thoroughly proved by the Russian side in the framework of proceedings with Ukraine in the UN International Court of Justice under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide of 1948. Kiev is on trial for genocide in Donbas.
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