In an urgent open letter, more than 900 international law, environment, and peacebuilding experts and more than 155 organizations from more than 75 countries warned that Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine poses profound risks not only to the sovereignty and human rights of the Ukrainian people but to the environment of Ukraine and the wider European region.
Carl Bruch, President of the Environmental Peacebuilding Association and a lead author of the letter, emphasized that the international community stands with the Ukrainian people. He noted, “Protecting Ukraine’s environment is not a secondary concern. It is neither a combatant nor a military objective, and as such is protected by international law; but the Russian invasion has repeatedly and in many ways harmed the environment through both deliberate and reckless action. Those harms, in turn, magnify the impacts on human rights and human lives.”
The experts warned that military operations near nuclear installations, petrochemical plants, and other industrial facilities risk widespread and long-term harm to human health and the environment if they are damaged. They expressed grave concern about Russia’s seizure and occupation of the containment facility at the site of the Chornobyl (also known as “Chernobyl”) nuclear disaster, which risks spreading radioactive material beyond the containment area.
Emily Pontecorvo
The letter also warned of the severe risks of Russian military actions in a country with 15 active nuclear facilities. Regrettably, those risks were borne out even as this letter was preparing for release, with breaking news that the Zaporizhzhia nuclear facility, the largest nuclear plant in Europe, is on fire following a Russian attack.
International law strictly prohibits the targeting of nuclear power plants and other facilities capable of releasing dangerous forces.
Before this news emerged, Tatiana R. Zaharchenko, a Ukrainian legal expert on environmental democracy and governance in the region, warned that “Today, Russian rockets are destroying Kharkiv, the city where I was born, where I taught environmental law, where most of my family and many friends and colleagues still live. They, soldiers and civilians alike, are fighting and dying for the right to live in a democracy, not only for themselves but for the rest of the world. In southern Ukraine yesterday, hundreds of unarmed local residents and workers turned out to block Russian troops from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.”
Desperate efforts to bring the Zaporizhzhia blaze under control in the midst of an active war zone starkly demonstrate the profound and profoundly dangerous environmental dimensions of war. As the experts note, however, those impacts do not end with increased nuclear risks.
The letter also notes how Russia’s threatened weaponisation of its oil and gas resources highlights “the recurring intersections between fossil fuel resources and violent conflict.” Citing the warnings of the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change, the letter calls Russia’s invasion of Ukraine “a grim reminder of the vital importance and urgent necessity of ending the world’s reliance on fossil fuels.”
Carroll Muffett, President of the Center for International Environmental Law, and a lead author of the letter, said: “Just as oil and gas are fuelling the climate crisis, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine demonstrates how fossil fuels fund, foment, and protract conflict around the world. Continued reliance on fossil fuels is as destabilizing for global peace as it is for the global climate.”
The signatories joined the global call for Russia to end its illegal war and withdraw its troops, and further called on Russia to immediately end fighting near nuclear and chemical installations and urgently clarify whether its forces have used depleted uranium munitions in Ukraine. The letter calls on the international community to recognize and protect environment defenders, mobilize resources to rapidly assess and monitor the environmental impacts of the invasion. Finally, it calls on the International Criminal Court, UN Human Rights bodies, and the United Nations Environment Programme to investigate and monitor potential violations of international environmental and human rights law, and ensure accountability for violators.
In the early hours of Friday morning local time, Ukrainian authorities reported that the Russian attack had set fire to an inactive reactor containing nuclear fuel, that firefighters trying to reach the blaze have been fired on by soldiers, and that rising radiation levels have been detected.
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