Thunberg decries ‘ecocide’ in Ukraine, meets with Zelensky

Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday and slammed “ecocide” happening during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 

Thunberg traveled to Kyiv to participate in a working group concentrated on the ecological damage that has come from the war. The working group includes Thunberg, European Parliament Vice President Heidi Hautala, former Swedish Deputy Prime Minister Margot Wallström and former Irish President Mary Robinson. 

“I do not think that the world reaction to this ecocide was enough,” Thunberg said. 

She said Russian soldiers have been “deliberately” targeting the environment and civilians’ lives and livelihoods. 

Ecocide is defined as the mass destruction of ecological systems with long-lasting effects. 

The working group is responsible for analyzing the environmental damage that has come from the war, creating mechanisms to hold Russia accountable for the damage and taking efforts to rebuild. 

Ukrainian Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin said in a tweet that the environment has been a “silent victim” of the war but should not be. He said about 30 percent of Ukraine’s landscape has been “contaminated” with explosives, and more than 2.4 million hectares — nearly 6 million acres — of forests have been damaged. 

Kostin said the destruction of Ukraine’s Nova Kakhovka dam earlier this month is the most “significant environmental disaster” in Ukraine since the nuclear meltdown at Chernobyl during the 1980s in the time of the Soviet Union. 

The dam is on a critical front line in the fight between Russia and Ukraine and supplied water to much of the country. Ukraine has accused Russia is destroying the dam “in panic” as Ukraine launched its long-awaited counteroffensive. 

Kostin said Ukraine is the first country to prosecute ecological crimes on a wide scale and is investigating 15 incidents considered ecocide under the country’s criminal code. 

“We call for strengthening international efforts to investigate and prosecute Russia’s war crimes against the environment and to ensure that the aggressor pays for the enormous damage caused by these crimes,” he said. 

Zelensky thanked the working group for an “extremely important signal of support.” 

The Associated Press contributed.