russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine has unleashed widespread and systematic environmental devastation - from the destruction of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant (HPP) to the targeted shelling of industrial zones, forests, and protected ecosystems. These attacks pollute air and water, destroy biodiversity, and deepen the planetary climate crisis. Such acts must not only be condemned but recognised as ecocide - the large-scale and deliberate destruction of nature - and prosecuted as an international crime, on par with war crimes.

In this conversation with Valeria, we will explore urgent questions of justice and reconstruction:
– Who must be held accountable for ecocide in Ukraine?
– How can environmental protection and climate justice be embedded in post-war recovery?

Valeriia Bondareva is the co-founder of the Rozviy Youth Climate Initiative, a Ukrainian youth-led organization advocating for a fossil-free, socially just, and democratic reconstruction in the wake of russia’s full-scale invasion.