You cannot rebuild ruined nature, Zelenskyy highlights environmental cost of Russian war

A man takes a photo in a yard outside of a university damaged from a recent missile attack in Kramatorsk Ukraine, Dec. 13, 2022. [VOA]

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged New Zealand to play a role in building support for a peace plan that includes a focus on the environmental impacts of Russia's 10-month-old war on Ukraine.

Zelenskyy delivered a video address to New Zealand's parliament Wednesday, telling lawmakers that Russian attacks have polluted rivers, flooded coal mines and destroyed chemical sites. He said 174,000 square kilometers of Ukrainian territory are contaminated with mines and unexploded ordnance.