Over the past two and a half months, the amount of damage caused to the environment by the war has increased by almost $1.5 billion and now stands at $57 billion, but this number is not yet final.

This was reported by the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources. Minister Ruslan Strilets shared this information during the second meeting of the international working group on the environmental consequences of the war, which was co-chaired by the head of the Presidential Office, Andriy Yermak, and former Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallström.

According to the official, efforts are currently underway to develop and implement a comprehensive plan for Ukraine's environmental recovery from the war's consequences. One of the key components of this plan is to support Ukraine in implementing President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's "peace formula" aimed at ensuring environmental safety and counteracting the environmental consequences of the war.

"We cooperate with international partners. The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) mission has already prepared a draft environmental impact assessment of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant explosion. Based on this report, they will develop an environmental restoration program," the minister said.

In addition, the process of forest restoration is underway where possible. This year, the Green Country program has already helped to restore forests on more than 16,000 hectares. This includes the planting of over 112 million forest seedlings in the spring and the planned planting of at least 90 million trees in the fall.

National parks are also actively engaged in restoring annual plants on hundreds of hectares of the bottom of the Kakhovka reservoir, which will help prevent dust storms and the spread of alien species.

According to Strilets, today about 700,000 hectares of Ukrainian forests are located in the occupied or combat zone, and 2.4 million hectares are located in the liberated territories. Restoring these forests is an extremely important task.

Prosecutor Andriy Kostin said that 14 cases of ecocide committed during Russia's war against Ukraine are currently under investigation. A total of 252 war crimes that resulted in environmental damage have already been recorded.

The meeting of the international working group ended with the adoption of a framework document that identifies three priorities for the group: the fullest possible assessment of environmental damage, the development of a strategy for determining responsibility and compensation for these crimes, and recommendations for Ukraine's transition to a green economy after the war.