UKRAINE WAR ENVIRONMENT -- {WEB}
Metadata
- UKRAINE WAR ENVIRONMENT -- {WEB}
- November 7, 2023
- Content Type Package
- Language English
- Transcript/Script UKRAINE WAR ENVIRONMENT HEADLINE: The Silent Victim: Environmental Damage from Russia-Ukraine War Totals $56 Billion PUBLISHED: 11/06/2023 at 4:08 pm BYLINE: Lesia Bakalets CONTRIBUTOR: DATELINE: VIDEOGRAPHER: Daniil Batushchak ASSIGNING EDITOR: LR SCRIPT EDITORS: Aru Pande, Baragona PRODUCER: VIDEO SOURCES: REUTERS, MANDATORY COURTESY, zoom PLATFORMS: WEB __ TV X_ RADIO_ TRT: 3:29 VID APPROVED BY: mia TYPE: TV/R UPDATE: )) ((INTRO)) [[November 6 is the International Day for the Prevention of Environmental Exploitation in War and Armed Conflict. According to the Ukrainian prosecutor-general, the environmental damage of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine totals roughly $56 billion, with destruction of the Kakhovka Dam as one of the worst disasters. Lesia Bakalets reports on how Ukrainian eco-activists and law enforcement gather information on eco-crimes.]] ((MANDATORY COURTESY: Let's do it Ukraine/Anton Dmytruk)) ((NARRATOR)) Eco-activist Iuliia Markhel takes samples of water from the Inhulets River, which was impacted when the Kakhovka Dam was destroyed in a blast in June of this year. ((MANDATORY COURTESY: Let's Do It Ukraine/Anton Dmytruk)) ((Iuliia Markhel, leader of Let's do it Ukraine – FEMALE, UKR))) “The time is 11:22, location – Snihurivka city, Inhulets River.” [[RADIO VERSION: She fixes on the camera the time and location – it is 11:22, the city of Snihurivka city of Mykolaiv region, Inhulets River.]] ((video: REUTERS)) ((NARRATOR)) Ukrainian authorities blame Russia for blowing up a part of the dam. Russia denies the accusation. Still, the impact of the blast was immediate. ((video: zoom)) ((Iuliia Markhel, Let's Do It Ukraine Leader (female, Ukrainian))) “The wave of water from Kakhovka Dam went 200 kilometers through 80 villages and cities. The level in small rivers nearby rose. In Snihurivka, the Inhulets River is typically 60 meters wide. Back then [after the blast] it was up to one and a half kilometers.” [[RADIO VERSION: Eco-activist Iuliia Markhel explains that the wave of water from Kakhovka Dam went 200 kilometers through 80 villages and cities. The level in small rivers nearby rose. In Snihurivka, Inhulets River is typically 60 meters wide. After the blast it was up to one and a half kilometers.]] ((MANDATORY COURTESY: Let's Do It Ukraine/Anton Dmytruk)) ((NARRATOR)) Members of the eco-activism group Let’s do it Ukraine have already made three expeditions to research harm from the Kakhovka Dam’s destruction. But they say the real scale of the tragedy is difficult to calculate. ((video: zoom)) ((Iuliia Markhel, Let's Do It Ukraine Leader (female, Ukrainian))) “We are taking water samples and looking for toxic substances. After the research, we will know the general effect on the environment, sea animals and freshwater sources. But we need to find out what's on the other bank of the Dnipro [River]; this territory is occupied now by Russians.” [[RADIO VERSION: Markhel says that her team takes water samples and looks for toxic substances. So, after the research, they will know the general effect on the environment, sea animals and freshwater sources. But, she adds, the activists need to find out what's on the other bank of the Dnipro River; this territory is occupied now by Russians. ]] ((MANDATORY COURTESY: Let's do it Ukraine/Anton Dmytruk)) ((NARRATOR)) Some water samples are frozen and will be transported to European labs for additional research. Ukrainian scientists have already found heavy metals in the water. ((video: zoom)) ((Yury Oleynik, Ukrainian Scientific Center of Ecology of the Sea (male, Russian))) “From an environmental point of view, these substances have exceeded the maximum permissible concentrations. In addition to being toxic, they are also carcinogenic. They can accumulate in the human body and cause cancer.” [[RADIO VERSION: Yury Oleynik, a scientist at the Ukrainian Scientific Center of Ecology of the Sea says that from an environmental point of view, these substances have exceeded the maximum permissible concentrations. In addition to being toxic, he says, they are also carcinogenic. They can accumulate in the human body and cause cancer.]] ((NARRATOR)) According to activists at Let’s Do It Ukraine, the Kakhovka Dam catastrophe is the second worst in Europe after the 1986 accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The office of the Ukrainian Prosecutor General calls the dam’s destruction ecocide. ((video: zoom)) ((Maksym Popov, Ukrainian Prosecutor-General Special Adviser (male, Ukrainian))) “According to our national legislation, ecocide is defined as the mass destruction of flora and fauna, air and water pollution that can lead to an ecological disaster. Harm to the environment has no borders, no citizenship, no nationality. Incidents such as the Kakhovka Dam attack have a cross-border nature.” [[RADIO VERSION: Maksym Popov, special adviser to the Ukrainian Prosecutor General explains that according to Ukrainian national legislation, ecocide is defined as the mass destruction of flora and fauna, air and water pollution that can lead to an ecological disaster. He highlighted that harm to the environment has no borders, no citizenship, no nationality. Incidents such as the Kakhovka Dam attack have a cross-border nature.]] ((NARRATOR)) Ukraine is one of the first countries in the world to make ecocide a crime. The country is also working with worldwide eco-organizations to make ecocide an international crime. ((video: zoom)) ((Jojo Mehta, Stop Ecocide International Co-Founder (female, English))) “We push for international crime because that is where the International Criminal Court is, where there is no immunity even for the top leaders and also because there's a level of coherence achievable that way and a way of people taking it seriously because that is of course where the worst crimes are considered.” ((NARRATOR)) Fifty-six billion dollars is the preliminary cost of environmental damage caused by the war in Ukraine. And as activists point out, ecology is not like a house or city; it cannot be rebuilt in a year or two. ((Lesia Bakalets, VOA news))
- NewsML Media Topics Arts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
- Network VOA
- Embargo Date November 6, 2023 21:05 EST
- Byline Lesia Bakalets, VOA News
- Brand / Language Service Voice of America - English