Russians devastate Askania-Nova reserve in ongoing ecocide

The Russians continue their destruction of southern Ukraine’s unique Askania-Nova nature reserve, observed Oleksandr Prokudin, Head of Kherson Regional Military Administration, in an interview given to RBC-Ukraine.

“They [the Russians] are destroying it. The last I heard is that they are taking animals to Crimea and Russia. So, we can say that the reserve is no more. They have thoroughly plundered it,”  Prokudin warned.

“This is an ongoing process, not a completed fact. As of today, 20 animals have been transported to Russia and the temporarily occupied territory of Crimea. Some animals have died due to neglect, lack of qualified scientific support, and veterinary care. A significant portion of the nature reserve’s steppe – over 2,000 hectares – has been burned as a result of fires of various origins,” explained Viktor Shapoval, the reserve’s director.

Reports of the occupiers’ activities in stealing animals from the reserve emerged last November. The animals were to be transported to the Krasnodar Safari Park. “These “animal exchange” actions will be a gross violation of the CITES Convention, ratified by the Ukrainian parliament (similarly, Russia is a signatory party),” the management of the reserve stated at the time.

The Russian military intruded into the reserve on the first day of their full-scale invasion. Their behavior as occupiers immediately put this unique nature area at risk. Askania-Nova is the largest steppe reserve in Europe; a UNESCO biosphere reserve that preserves Ukraine’s untouched virgin steppes. Before February 24, it was home to over 1,155 animal species and 478 plant species.