Ukraine to file fifth lawsuit in international courts on Russia's ecocidal crimes
Ukraine is preparing an ecocide case against Russia, which will be the fifth lawsuit related to war crimes committed by the Russian Federation under consideration in international courts.
Source: The New York Times
Quote: "Currently, four specific acts — genocide, crimes against humanity, aggression and war crimes — are recognized as international crimes. Ukraine would like to add a fifth — ecocide — and it is setting out to build its case against Russia," reports NYT with reference to Maksym Popov, an adviser to the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, who specialises in environmental issues.
"We right now are developing the strategy for the prosecution of environmental war crimes and ecocide," he said.
Details: It is known that part of this case will be the mass death of dolphins that continues in the Black Sea.
Quote: "Dolphins are not only cute creatures. They are keystone creatures for the marine ecosystem. If dolphins are in a bad condition, then the entire ecosystem will be in a bad condition," said Pavlo Holdin, a doctor in zoology who specialises in marine mammal populations at the Ukrainian Scientific Centre of Ecology of the Sea.
Details: According to The New York Times, Pavlo Holdin performed a series of autopsies on the dead dolphins in order to establish the cause of their death.
Quote:"Ukrainian officials say their plight speaks to the savage toll that Russia’s war is taking on marine life and the environment more broadly — something they want to document for prosecution," the newspaper reports.
Background: The first dead animals were found on the Turkish Black Sea coast near the Bosphorus in March, almost immediately after the start of Russia's full-scale attack on Ukraine. Usually, at this time of year, there are not many cases of cetaceans deaths. So scientists immediately took notice.
In April, an atypical mass death of cetaceans began to be noticed in Bulgaria. In previous years, dolphins also died here at this time of year, but now this occurs many times more than usual.
In May, dead dolphins began to be found in Romania and Ukraine.
Most cases were recorded in Sevastopol. Dead animals were also found in Kerch, Feodosia, Odesa and near Mykolaiv. In addition, there are unusual cases when exhausted dolphins swim to the shore, even though they do not look injured or sick.
The peak of deaths occurred in late May and early June. Another, smaller peak occurred in late August.
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