Ukraine registers environmental damage of more than $5.5billion amid Russian invasion

The war-torn nation Ukraine has registered environmental damage of more than $5.5billion, the Ukrainian Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources, Ruslan Strelets said. Calling Russia "the main environmental terrorist", Strelets proclaimed that the country recorded more than 2,000 facts of damage to the environment since the onset of the "special military operation". "To date, we have already recorded more than 2,000 facts of environmental damage. More than 300 materials on the destruction of the environment and land have been handed over to law enforcement agencies," Kyiv Independent quoted the minister as saying during a televised programme to raise money for a charity. 

Further, he affirmed that the Russian shelling of Ukraine caused massive damage to the environment worth Ukrainian hryvnia 200 billion. According to Strelets, the State Ecological Inspectorate records new cases every day and releases updates related to the environment on a daily basis. "Russia is the main environmental terrorist today," the minister said. Notably, the data from Strelets came nearly four days after a Ukraine-based NGO alleged that the minister showed unprofessional behaviour and appealed to Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal to dismiss him. According to the NGO, the plan for ecological recovery of Ukraine, which the Ministry of Environmental Protection presented in Lugano, showed the unprofessionalism and unfitness of the head of the Ministry of Environment, Nature Experts reported.   

Zelenskyy fires top officials amidst Ukraine crisis

Amid the brutal war, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appealed to the West and Europe to assist Ukraine with more and more weapons. According to Zelenskyy, it is the only way to end the war. Meanwhile, Zelenskyy fired his state security chief and prosecutor general last week. The stern action from the Ukrainian President came as he alleged that the officers -- Ivan Bakanov, head of the Security Service of Ukraine and Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova -- were suspected of treason and working closely with Russians. Among the top officers, the Ukrainian head also sacked 60 others after they were found indulged in the transfer of secret information to the enemy and other facts of cooperation with the Russian special services.

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