The Ministry of Natural Resources turned to international environmental conventions to recognize the actions of Russians in the occupied nature reserves of the Kherson region as illegal, the Government Portal informs.

The Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine Ruslan Strelets said that on March 20, the occupation administration established de facto control over the Askania-Nova reserve and appointed its illegitimate leadership here. The reserve has been occupied since the first day of a full-scale invasion, but until recently Askania-Nova remained manageable.

According to the minister, the occupiers are trying to turn the Dzharylgatsky National Natural Park into land for “hunting, fishing, trapping and shooting wild animals”.

The head of the Ministry of Natural Resources says that the Russians have already destroyed many valuable environmental sites, using our reserves as military bases and "

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In order to counteract what the invaders are doing in Ukrainian reserves, the Ministry of Natural Resources sent relevant appeals to the secretariats of international environmental conventions.

The purpose of these appeals is to ensure that such actions of the Russian Federation are condemned and the process of non-recognition of the decisions of the aggressor begins..

Letters sent to the Secretariats of the Bern, Ramsar, Bonn Conventions, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), as well as the Secretariat of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and the National Commission for UNESCO.

It is expected that wide publicity will involve the international community in solving the problem, as well as to achieve fair punishment for the Russian Federation within these organizations..

Earlier it was reported that only in the first four months of a full-scale offensive, Russia caused damage to Ukrainian land and soils worth UAH 80.5 billion..