Photo from occupied Kherson region wins international competition

A photo from the occupied Kherson region was included in the top 10 best photos of Ukraine.

A photo from the Askania-Nova Biosphere Reserve, located in the temporarily occupied territory of Kherson region, was included in the top ten best photos of Ukraine according to the results of the Ukrainian part of the international photo contest Wiki Loves Earth 2024, the project's official website reports.

Ukraine also took second place among 57 countries in terms of the number of uploaded photos: 6437 photos of protected areas were uploaded by 106 participants. One of the best photos taken in Askania Nova depicts zebras grazing in the steppe. The author of the photo is Anna Glushakova.

The list of best photos also includes photos from other regions of Ukraine: Odesa ("Tarutino Steppe"), Lviv (Medobory near the village of Pidkamin), Cherkasy ("Tarasiv Horizon"), Chernihiv ("Yalivshchyna"), Zakarpattia (Svydovets Massif), Chernivtsi (Shyshkovi Hills), Ivano-Frankivsk (Nadvirna Rocks), Ternopil (Chystyliv Ornithological Reserve), and Zhytomyr (Baranivsky Reserve) regions.

Askania-NovaBiosphereReserve is a unique protected area in Ukraine, which is included in the list of the oldest steppe reserves in the world. It is located in the Kherson region, Kakhovka district, near the village of Askania-Nova of the same name.

The reserve was established in 1898 by Baron Friedrich Faltz-Fein, who dedicated his life to the preservation of wildlife. Area: 33.3 thousand hectares, of which more than 11 thousand hectares are virgin steppe, which has never been cultivated by humans. It is part of the UNESCO World Network of Biosphere Reserves and is also part of the Emerald Network of Europe.

"Askania-Nova is one of the few areas in Europe where an untouched steppe landscape with natural flora and fauna has been preserved. Since February 24, 2022, the reserve has been under occupation. In April 2024, information about the critical condition of the facility was reported. Before the war, more than 3000 species of animals lived here, including 27 species from the IUCN Red List and 7 species from the Red Book of Ukraine. Many collections of rare animals were almost lost during the occupation.

Ірина Глухова