Russian troops inflict over 2.5M damage on Chornobyl zone

"To date, preliminary damage inflicted on the exclusion zone exceed UAH 2.5 billion. The radiation monitoring system was shut down, almost 100 units of modern equipment of the Chornobyl Central Analytical Laboratory were destroyed. Almost 12,000 hectares of land in the unique complex of the Chornobyl Reserve were destroyed by fire,” Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources of Ukraine Ruslan Strilets said during a briefing at the Ukraine Media Center–Ukrinform.

According to him, some restoration works have already been made. In particular, several posts of the radiation monitoring system were reactivated. Currently, the Ministry of Ecology is working to make data about the state of the environment in the exclusion zone available to every Ukrainian online.

Also, according to the minister, the documentation of environmental crimes throughout Ukraine is ongoing.

"To date, we have recorded 245 cases of ecocide in Ukraine and the Black Sea," he said.

Most environmental crimes were registered in Kyiv region – 34 cases, in Donetsk region – 28 cases, in Dnipropetrovsk and Luhansk regions – 22 cases each.