Arriving from Odesa, Tetiana Balatska could not defy the charm of Vylkove, 1 of the “gates” to the Danube delta and a town of 5,000 inhabitants that looks like the end of the world. Opposite, on the another side of the river, Romania and its trees emerge, inaccessible. Further east, the marshes emergence towards the Black Sea. Only a renovated road, now divided up by military checkpoints, allows access in 2 hours from the river port of Izmail.
This “haven of peace and nature” for Tetiana is besides nicknamed the “Venice of the Danube”, with its 46 kilometres of canals that connect the houses to each other. She has been working there for 24 years as a biologist at the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve, which covers 5,200 square kilometres between Ukraine and Romania.
But since the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24th 2022, the fishing village has become a military base, a rear post of Snake Island, which was attacked in the first days by the Russian army and then retaken by the Ukrainians a fewer weeks later. The sounds of the clashes, a fewer twelve kilometres away, made Vylkove tremble.
“All the fishermen’s huts were destroyed”
“The coastline was bombed. All the fishermen’s huts were destroyed,” says Tetiana, who can only see the harm from satellite images, due to the fact that “the area has been militarized. A large part of the delta on the Ukrainian side is inaccessible. It is impossible to measure the consequences of the war on the fauna and flora.”
The energetic sixty-year-old does not let herself be defeated. In particular, she continues her work of environmental education with young people. This summer, she organized a camp on the Romanian side, with children from Vylkove, Moldova and Romania. This was done through a partnership with Rewilding Ukraine, a branch of Rewilding Europe, a Dutch NGO that has been carrying out “rewilding” projects for respective years in the delta.
One of their joint projects is located on the island of Ermakov, a 2,300-hectare part of land with swamps in the centre of the river. About 50 water buffaloes have been introduced there since 2019, as well as chaotic horses and roe deer.
Here, too, war threatens specified seeming calm. Since the summertime of 2023, Russian drones have targeted Ukrainian ports on the Danube, including Vylkove on a fewer occasions.
“It was next to the island. The animals are most likely stressed by the explosions,” says Tetiana.
To get to Ermakov, you gotta take a tiny boat from the village. In this martial context, the island is only accessible to the military, unless peculiar approval is granted. There, about 20 water buffaloes throw themselves into the cool water or stay grouped close the shore close their young.
“They recreate a mosaic of ecosystems in these wetlands”
“They adapt well to this kind of environment,” says Mykhailo Nesterenko, task manager of Rewilding Ukraine, who left Odesa for the Netherlands at the beginning of the full-scale war.
“Thanks to grazing, they open clearings, conducive to the habitats of birds and another tiny animals,” he explains. “They recreate a mosaic of ecosystems in these wetlands.”
The biologist has been able to see the difference in a fewer years.
“A neighbouring island does not benefit from this reintroduction of species,” he continues. “It does not have as much biodiversity as Ermakov.”
In the delta, Rewilding Ukraine has another major project: the reconnection of lakes with the river close Izmail. This is being done “in order to regain the natural flow of water. This allows the lakes to breathe and the fish to migrate”, says Mykhailo. These basins were closed during the russian period for crop irrigation, causing a deterioration in water quality.
Here again, the war brought its share of challenges.
“It was hard to find men to dig the canals, many had left or enlisted,” the man continues.
In front of 1 of these lakes, where a canal connects it to the Danube, children swim while adults cast their hooks before night falls.
“It’s crucial for the local communities,” Mykhailo emphasizes, “They are asking for nature conservation projects, due to the fact that it is something positive, as opposed to destruction.”
About a 100 kilometres away, between the Danube delta and Crimea, clashes do not halt on the Black Sea. The Ukrainian army has destroyed nearly 30 Russian warships, whose wrecks and fuel can become sources of pollution.
Wrecks and oil slicks
In September 2023, Ukraine besides recovered the “Boyko Towers”, offshore oil platforms occupied since 2015 by Russia. The fighting caused fires on the platforms as early as June 2022, which lasted nearly a year according to environmentalists. Large oil slicks have been observed on the surface of the water.
According to the Ukrainian Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources, the war has caused losses of nearly 7 billion US dollars in the Black Sea region. This was partially caused by the demolition of the Kakhovka Dam on June 6th 2023, which has been blamed on Russia. This has caused an environmental disaster on the banks of the Dnieper river but besides at sea.
The abrupt drop in water salinity, due to the arrival of freshwater masses in a short time, coupled with the increase in pollution, has led to the proliferation of cyanobacteria, which have deprived marine species of oxygen.
Nearly 70 per cent of the mussels died
In particular, they “caused the death of nearly 70 per cent of the mussels on the coast of Odesa and severely affected another species,” laments Olena Marushevska, a scientist for the Ukrainian National Hub of the European Commission’s Black Sea Assistance mechanics (BSAM). A year later, the biologist is afraid about the presence of dense metals that could permanently contaminate the coastline.
In December 2023, Ukraine started an investigation to prosecute Russia for “ecocide” before the global Criminal Court. For scientists, the large difficulty is being able to decently measure and measurement the damage. They presently have no access to the Black Sea or a large part of the coastline, which is militarized and riddled with mines.
It is besides impossible to analyse the harm and sources of contamination in occupied territories specified as the Kherson region and Crimea. They then effort to observe the traces of contamination through satellite images. For Olena Marushevska, “this is not enough.”
In neighbouring Romania, “the scope of investigation is besides restricted due to floating mines.” This has been noted by Adrian Stanica, manager of GeoEcoMar, the Romanian national institute of geology and marine geoecology. His squad is working with Olena and another European institutes to experimentation with fresh measurement methods.
As part of the European investigation task “Doors Black Sea”, they are developing a “digital twin” of the Black Sea.
“It’s a method that combines respective sources: satellite images, numerical models and the collection of samples in the field according to a variety of parameters, which will make it possible to realize the state of the Black Sea under various conditions,” explains Adrian. “Gathering all this data takes time, but afterwards, we will be able to carry out these measurements without going on site.”
Mykhailo Nesterenko of Rewilding Ukraine, for his part, does not want to see everything in a negative light. close Odesa, in an area where there is no longer any fishing or ships, biologists observe a return of biodiversity: “Without human activity, wildlife can rapidly regain its rights.”
Anna Romandash is an award-winning writer from Ukraine and an author of Women of Ukraine: Reportages from the War and Beyond (2023).
Marine Leduc is simply a French freelance writer and media literacy trainer working in France, Romania and Moldova.
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