AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Ukraine is investigating the blast at a major hydroelectric dam in the south of the country as a war crime and as possible criminal environmental destruction, or “ecocide”, the office of its prosecutor general said on Tuesday.
The prosecutors said in comments sent to Reuters that they had started “urgent investigations” into the destruction of the Nova Kakhovka hydroelectric dam.
Ukraine is one of a small number of states, including Russia, that have criminalised ‘ecocide’ through domestic legislation.
Kyiv defines ecocide as “mass destruction of flora and fauna, poisoning of air or water resources, and also any other actions that may cause an environmental disaster” in Article 441 of its criminal code.
(Reporting by Anthony Deutsch)
