Occupants have caused one hundred billion in damage to the ecosystems of the national park in Kherson region

As of the end of 2025, the total amount of damage caused to the natural reserve fund of the Kamianska Sich National Park in the Kherson region was estimated at 107 billion.

This is stated in the material of Suspilne.

The territory of the reserve, which was seized by the invaders in March 2022 and where the front line passed twice, continues to suffer from shelling even after de-occupation. In particular, in January 2026, in one of the settlements of the region, the Russian military attacked a park service vehicle with a drone.

Over the past year, 98 fires were recorded on the territory of Kamianska Sich, which burned about 5,000 hectares of protected land. Yulia Khodosovtseva, deputy director of the national park, said that the fire destroys unique plant species listed in the Red Book. In addition to vegetation, animals are suffering massively from the hostilities: although some of them managed to leave the danger zone, remote mining of the territory has become a critical threat to those who remained.

Another blow to the ecosystem was the explosion of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant, which led to the drainage of a large part of the park. Almost half a ton of fish died as a result of the disaster, and the water flow carried most of the bioresources below the Dnipro dam. Due to the shallowing of the reservoir, the park lost its unique part of the Emerald Network, an area that belonged to the European nature conservation category of special importance.

The specialized environmental prosecutor's office is currently investigating numerous war crimes against the environment in the park. Investigators have already documented dozens of fire episodes for further recovery of damages from the Russian Federation. According to experts, the environmental damage is extremely deep, and some of the losses are long-term or completely irreversible.

Катерина Глушко