Russia’s war in Ukraine has caused immense suffering to the civilian population. Tens of thousands are believed to have been killed, though an exact figure is impossible to know. Russia’s aggression has also sparked the biggest refugee crisis in Europe since the second world war, with 6.5 million people fleeing Ukraine since February 2022.
What has received far less attention has been the impact of the war on the country’s animal population.
With an estimated 25% of Ukraine’s protected nature areas occupied by Russian forces, entire ecosystems have been disrupted or destroyed. Some biologists believe tens of thousands of Black Sea dolphins have been killed, though verifying this has proved to be difficult.
