In Ukraine, near areas of intense combat, birds have built a nest using fiber-optic cable commonly used for drone control.
A photo of the abandoned nest was shared by a soldier from the support battalion of the 12th Azov Special Forces Brigade. According to the official Telegram channel of the brigade, the image was taken in the Toretsk direction. The caption read:
“Nature adapting to war. Birds have mixed natural and artificial materials. This is just one of dozens of examples of how nature survives in the fire of war—among hundreds of drones, assaults, shellings, and kilometers of scorched land.”
The war in Ukraine is causing large-scale environmental devastation. Not only have people and infrastructure suffered, but ecosystems—forests, bodies of water, animals, and birds—have also been affected. Military operations have caused immense damage to the environment.
As reported by HMH.news, according to Ukrainian estimates, the economic losses from the environmental impact of the war have already exceeded €80 billion. One of the most devastating events was the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam. This tragedy caused widespread flooding of settlements, the loss of agricultural land, and catastrophic consequences for the region’s ecosystem. Millions of people were affected by the dam’s destruction, as water supply quality severely declined and irrigation water resources disappeared in many southern Ukrainian regions. The drop in the Kakhovka Reservoir’s water level also negatively impacted biodiversity, wiping out numerous species of fish and aquatic plants.
Additionally, pollution of rivers such as the Seym and Desna, fuel spills in the Black Sea, and damage to the protective dome over the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant reactor have created serious environmental threats.
So far, one-third of Ukraine’s forests and 20% of its protected natural areas have been affected by the war.
In total, 35% of Europe’s biodiversity, which Ukraine possesses, is currently under threat.
