\n<\/p>\n
S<\/span>ince 2022, the Guardian photographer Alessio Mamo<\/a> has been tracking the impact of Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine. The Kremlin\u2019s full-scale invasion, which began three years ago on Monday, caused millions of Ukrainians to flee. Cities have been flattened, villages occupied and lives destroyed. At least 46,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed and many more injured in Europe\u2019s biggest conflict since the second world war.<\/p>\n As well as intense human suffering, Russia\u2019s attack has had a catastrophic effect on the environment. According to the World Wildlife Fund<\/a> (WWF), more than 3m hectares of forest have been affected, including 1m hectares in protected areas. Russian troops have dug trenches, felled trees and planted countless mines. Fires caused by shells have increased CO2<\/sub> emissions. Giant clouds of smoke can be seen billowing next to a 600-mile-long frontline.<\/p>\n Some of this destruction is accidental. But there have also been extraordinary acts of large-scale Russian sabotage. In June 2023 the Russian military blew up the Kakhovka reservoir<\/a> to thwart a Ukrainian counter-offensive. The explosion released more than 14 cubic kilometres (14tn litres) of water, flooded dozens of settlements downstream and killed at least 35 people. Ukraine\u2019s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said it was a \u201cdeliberate and calculated crime\u201d.<\/p>\n The flood killed animals and swept away a fish farm that was trying to restore endangered sturgeon to the Dnipro River. Unique species were lost. In August 2024 there was another ecological disaster when suspected Russian soldiers dumped chemicals from the Russian border village of Tyotkino into the Seym River. The pollution crossed the international border<\/a> nearby and made its way into Ukraine\u2019s north-eastern Sumy region. The Seym\u2019s ecosystem crashed.<\/p>\n (Clockwise from top left) The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant seen from Nikopol across the now much-reduced Kakhovka reservoir; a dead pike washed up on the banks of the Desna near the village of Slabyn; Khortytsia island near the city of Zaporizhzhia, where the water level fell dramatically after Russians blew up the dam downstream; millions of molluscs have died because of pollution in the Seym and Desna<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n <\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n Fish, molluscs and crayfish were asphyxiated as oxygen levels fell to zero. Settlements along the river reported mass die-offs. A rare sub-population of sterlet was wiped out. On assignment for the Guardian, Mamo, who has been working as a photographer since 2008, photographed dead fish<\/a> washed up on the picturesque banks of the Desna River, which connects to the Seym. As one local official put it, the Desna became Europe\u2019s first completely dead river.<\/p>\n Tymofii Kharchenko, a veterinarian and volunteer for the evacuation of the animals, at Feldman ecopark in Kharkiv. He helps direct high-risk rescues amid the debris of Russian missiles<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n <\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Mamo began his photojournalism career focusing on contemporary social, political and economic issues. He covered refugees and displacement, starting in his native Sicily, and travelled to the Middle East and the Balkans. Over the past three years he has made regular trips to Ukraine, often visiting the frontline in the east, documenting the lives of soldiers and civilians living under constant Russian fire. He recently photographed a military funeral under a grey and drizzly sky.<\/p>\n \u201cWar is an extreme example of the violence humans impose on nature,\u201d said Mamo, a two-time World Press Photo winner. \u201cFor decades were have subjected our environment to stress.\u201d One of Mamo\u2019s first photographic projects was to record extreme drought in Sicily<\/a> caused by climate change, leading to desertification. He likens negative human actions to \u201cwounds, scars and amputations\u201d carried on the body for life.<\/p>\n A former prisoner turned soldier on a training exercise in a sunflower field in southern Ukraine. Sunflower fields have been directly affected by artillery, bombings and military operations. The conflict has damaged crops, machinery and infrastructure, including irrigation systems. Fields have been abandoned and many farmers have had to flee or enlist in the military<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n <\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Ukrainians agree that the damage caused by Russia to the environment cannot be easily fixed. Dr Bohdan Vykhor, the executive director of WWF Ukraine<\/a>, said: \u201cWe have lost some parts of nature for ever. It\u2019s impossible to return. It\u2019s objective reality, unfortunately.\u201d Vykhor said it would take many decades and \u201ctremendous effort\u201d to de-mine Ukraine, one of the most densely mined countries in the world. \u201cUntil fighting stops, we can\u2019t begin. It\u2019s dangerous,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The war has destroyed many important habitats for wildlife. Several rare species have suffered, including the red-listed marbled polecat<\/a>. The Kakhovka flood washed away its breeding areas, Vykhor said, adding: \u201cWe can\u2019t say if these creatures still exist in Ukraine.\u201d Meanwhile, Russian soldiers have built military camps on coastal reserves and crucial wetlands used by birds along the Black Sea. The elusive black stork has changed its spring migration route, Vykhor said.<\/p>\n\n
\n
\n