R45 | Proposer: Polish Green Party and the Ukrainian Green Party
On June 6th the Kakhovka dam at the Dnipro river in Southern Ukraine was heavily damaged by explosions. This flooded the surrounding areas and destroyed thousands of houses, farmland and forests as well as killed probably millions of animals. At least 16 people died, numerous are still missing and more than 16.000 had to be evacuated under Russian artillery fire.
Moreover, the explosions crippled the energy production of the connected hydro power plant and destroyed the irrigation canals for Southern Ukraine and Crimea. The leaking of toxic substances as well as dead animals severely threatens the drinking water supply in the region. The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant is endangered by a lack of cooling water and it has been under constant threat since the start of Russia’s illegal war against Ukraine.
There are no confirmations yet about the responsibility for this and we support
the call for an independent investigation. Attacking such infrastructure is a
war crime under the Geneva Convention since the effects are indiscriminate and target especially civilians in the region. Besides that, the war has already affected millions of acres of agricultural land, devastated national parks in Ukraine and led to drinking water shortage for more than 4 million people. This is accelerating the global food crisis and further prevents the export of urgently needed grain from Ukraine.
The impact of these attacks on the environment amounts to the crime of ecocide.
The Global Greens fully support the resolution formulated by the European Green Party during the EGP Congress in Copenhagen 2022 “European Greens continue to stand in undivided solidarity with Ukraine” in its stance against Russian aggression and its undivided solidarity with the people of Ukraine. Furthermore, the Global Greens state:
The destruction of the Kakhovka dam as well as the general environmental impacts of the Russian war of aggression must be considered as ecocide and condemned as war crimes.
The international community must assist the communities affected from the destruction of the dam as quickly as possible!
We strongly condemn the Russian attack on Ukraine as a fundamental violation of international law and the UN charter.
We stand in undivided solidarity with the people in Ukraine in their fight against Russian aggression. We demand the complete and unconditional withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine.