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Radio France Internationale
Radio France Internationale
Environment
RFI

Nearly one million hectares burn as war ravages nature across Ukraine

The gutted remains of a car in front of trees damaged after fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces on the outskirts of Chernihiv, Ukraine, on 22 April 2025. © AP / Petros Giannakouris

Nearly one million hectares of land in Ukraine have gone up in smoke this year as the Russian invasion turns forests into battlefields and leaves nature badly scarred. The fires follow the front line, raise fears of war crimes and add to a growing climate bill.

Satellite data shows close to 9,000 fires consuming 965,000 hectares, including a third of farmland. That is almost double the area burned across the entire European Union over the same period.

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