‘When we got here, it was a beautiful forest’

The Russia-Ukraine war has destroyed thousands of acres of Ukraine’s forest. Photo and video of the ecological effects of nearly 18 months of war.

During the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, forested tracts and strips between fields have become the only shelter available to soldiers trying to hide from reconnaissance drones. For that reason, Ukraine’s forests have become sites of particularly intense fighting and targets for seemingly endless missile and artillery strikes. Since October 2022, a separate “forest front” has existed to the north of the Siverskyi Donets River near the city of Kreminna. Large forces from both Russia and Ukraine have faced off there, bombing and shelling the forest with every available type of weapon, from mine-clearing vehicles to powerful aerial bombs. At the same time, the Russian army continues its long-standing practice of mining practically every strip of forest in the northern Zaporizhzhia and southern Donetsk regions.