On October 6, our Association’s expert Borys Babin reported at Plenary Session 1, “Humanitarian Issues,” of the Warsaw Human Dimension Conference 2025, held by OSCE ODIHR, on Russian international crimes against the environment committed during aggression against Ukraine.
Professor Babin reminded that the environment, as the important object of defense by those fundamental rules, is noticed in the Geneva Conventions and the Rome Statute, as well as in human rights covenants and treaties.
And, till March 2025, Ukraine has recorded over 8 thousand cases of environmental damage as a result of military actions; the total amount of damage has already reached almost 85 billion euros.
Gross Russian international crimes against the environment, committed during aggression against Ukraine, such as the explosion of the Kakhovka Power Station Dam in June 2023, created a new reality of jus in bello, including a framework of human dimension, such as human victims and compensation issues, ARC expert stressed at the OSCE, also discussing the perspective of international criminalization of ecocide.
Borys Babin reminded the OSCE that the next catastrophic situation connected with Russia’s aggression happened on December 15, 2024, when the Russian tankers “Volgoneft-212” and “Volgoneft-239,” as part of the Russian shadow fleet, sank in a storm near the Kerch Strait, regarding the occupiers’ negligence and Russia’s disinformation campaigns on that issue.
ARC expert stressed to OSCE on importance of the new Report A/80/174, “Military Activities and Toxic,” prepared by the UN Special Rapporteur on toxics and human rights, and if Concluding observations E/C.12/RUS/CO/7 of the UN Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, that characterised the oil spills, as a major source of environmental harm in conflict zones, and established the Russian illegal acts in that area, including the Russian “shadow” tanker fleet activities.
Professor Babin called on all OSCE bodies and participating states to pay special attention to the correlation between international humanitarian, environmental, criminal, and human rights law regarding Russia-committed crimes against the environment in Ukraine, illegal Russian shadow fleet activities, and the human dimension framework.
