Who gains from saving nature
Ledger 1 : 33 — For each dollar financing nature-based solutions in 2023, about $33 financed activities harmful to nature. (UNEP)
Cases / War and military activity · Ukraine · 2022–2025

Askania-Nova Biosphere Reserve under occupation, 2022–

Nature's voice · report
Rare animals were removed from my steppe and zoo: two each of Chapman's zebra, American bison, Przewalski's horse and Père David's deer, according to Olha Filina of the Kherson regional military administration.
Did nature suffer? Yes. Harm is on record. Disputed
Recorded
  • 33 animal deaths were recorded in my reserve; Ukrainian officials cited panic from low-flying Russian aircraft and insufficient care. Current Time
  • Two large fires burned my steppe in August and September 2023; the August fire reached the Bolshoy Chapelsky enclosure. Current Time
People
  • 33 people died.
    Animal deaths recorded, per Current Time (March 2025).
What the record lacks: 3 none on record · 1 not disclosed · 1 insufficient · 1 not measured · 1 disputed · 2 unclear See the gaps
Accounts of the harm differ
Condition and care of the reserve's animals
  • Government and regulators Ukrainian officials (Olha Filina; Andriy Sydorenko, State Environmental Inspectorate): 33 animal deaths recorded from panic caused by low-flying Russian aircraft and insufficient care; animals removed; possible logging, poaching and disruption of water regimes documented. Current Time
  • Government and regulators Bystryantsev, a former occupation official: Claimed the zoo animals were starving. Current Time
  • Government and regulators Russian authorities: No official response in the article cited. Current Time

Ukrainian officials estimate damage of UAH 85.2 million for the removal of rare animals from the Askania-Nova Biosphere Reserve in occupied Kherson Oblast. In February 2025 Ukrainian prosecutors sent to court an indictment charging the occupation-appointed head of the reserve.

UAH 85.2 millionDamage for the removal of rare animals (Ukrainian side, as reported)
The calculating body is not named in the article cited.

Status As of April 2026: a Ukrainian court convicted the occupation-appointed director on 9 April 2026 (15 years, confiscation of property); the reserve remains under occupation.

What?
Rare animals were removed from the Askania-Nova Biosphere Reserve under occupation, animals died and the steppe burned in 2023. Ukrainian officials give damage of UAH 85.2 million for the removal of rare animals. Current Time
Where?
Askania-Nova Biosphere Reserve, Kherson Oblast (occupied): steppe, zoo and dendrological park. Current Time
When?
Occupation from 24 February 2022; full Russian control from 20 March 2023; fires in August and September 2023; indictment sent to court in February 2025. Current Time
Who?
Gained
None on record
Lost
  • Ukrainian administration of the reserve — Control of the reserve since 20 March 2023; works from Kyiv with 30 staff Current Time
Harmed
  • Animals of the reserve — Removal of two each of four species; 33 deaths recorded Current Time
  • Steppe of the reserve — Two large fires in August and September 2023; steppe ploughed during the 1 September fire response Current Time
Why?
Ukrainian officials cite panic from low-flying Russian aircraft and insufficient care for the animal deaths and a fallen missile fragment for the August 2023 fire. A former occupation official claimed the zoo animals were starving. Current Time
How?
Animals were removed, including to the “Taigan” park in Crimea according to the prosecutors' indictment; the occupation administration does not provide the necessary funds. Current Time
6 of 6 questions answered from the record

What happened

The record, in order.

The Askania-Nova Biosphere Reserve in Kherson Oblast, with steppe, a zoo and a dendrological park, has been under occupation since 24 February 2022. According to Current Time and Radio Svoboda's Novyny Pryazovia (30 March 2025), Russia registered the reserve as a “state autonomous institution” on 7 March 2023 and took full control on 20 March 2023. The Ukrainian administration, led by Director Viktor Shapoval with 30 staff and 15 scientists, works from Kyiv under the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences.

Olha Filina of the Kherson regional military administration said animals had been removed: two each of Chapman's zebra, American bison, Przewalski's horse and Père David's deer. Thirty-three animal deaths were recorded; Ukrainian officials cited panic from low-flying Russian aircraft and insufficient care. Two large fires burned in August and September 2023; the August fire was caused by a fallen missile fragment, according to the Ukrainian side as reported, and reached the Bolshoy Chapelsky enclosure, and steppe was ploughed during the response to the fire of 1 September. No hectare figures are given. Ukrainian officials, including Andriy Sydorenko of the State Environmental Inspectorate, document possible logging, poaching and disruption of water regimes.

The Ukrainian side puts the damage for the removal of rare animals at UAH 85.2 million. The occupation administration does not provide the necessary funds, and salaries have been delayed repeatedly. The total damage from the occupation has not been calculated. In February 2025 Ukrainian prosecutors sent to court an indictment charging Dmitry Meshcheryakov, the occupation-appointed head of the reserve, in connection with the removal of animals, including to the “Taigan” park in Crimea. Current Time (March 2025) reported no verdict at that time. The article reports no official response from the Russian side; Bystryantsev, a former occupation official, claimed that the zoo animals were starving.

On 9 April 2026, according to the Office of the Prosecutor General as reported by Kyiv Post (Ukrainian edition), a court convicted the Russian-installed “director” of the reserve over the removal of animals (Chapman’s zebras, American bison, Père David’s deer and Przewalski’s horses) to the “Taigan” park in Crimea and to reserves in Russia, and sentenced him to 15 years in prison with confiscation of property and a 15-year ban on holding public posts. The damage in the case was UAH 85.2 million. The conviction was under war-crime provisions, not under the ecocide article.

  1. 2022Occupation begins (24 Feb)
  2. 2023Russian legal entity registered (7 Mar); full Russian control (20 Mar); large fires in August and September
  3. 2025Indictment sent to court (February); Current Time report (30 Mar)
  4. 2026Court convicts the occupation-appointed director; 15 years and confiscation of property (9 Apr)

What was said

Claims, in the words of those who made them.

Where accounts differ

Each party's account, side by side, with its source. The record does not settle these points; it shows them.

Condition and care of the reserve's animals
Government and regulators
Ukrainian officials (Olha Filina; Andriy Sydorenko, State Environmental Inspectorate)

33 animal deaths recorded from panic caused by low-flying Russian aircraft and insufficient care; animals removed; possible logging, poaching and disruption of water regimes documented.

Current Time
Government and regulators
Bystryantsev, a former occupation official

Claimed the zoo animals were starving.

Current Time
Government and regulators
Russian authorities

No official response in the article cited.

Current Time

How it looked

What was shown, beside what was recorded.

Shown

  • What is happening to the Askania-Nova reserve under Russian occupation (headline)
    Current Time, 30 March 2025 · Current Time

Recorded

  • Removed animals, per Olha Filina (Kherson regional military administration): two each of Chapman's zebra, American bison, Przewalski's horse and Père David's deer.
    Current Time
  • 33 animal deaths recorded; causes cited by Ukrainian officials: panic from low-flying Russian aircraft, insufficient care.
    Current Time
  • Two large fires in 2023 (August and 1 September); the August fire was caused by a fallen missile fragment, per the Ukrainian side as reported.
    Current Time
  • Damage for the removal of rare animals: UAH 85.2 million (Ukrainian side as reported; the calculating body is not named).
    Current Time

Who gained

Money that reached nature, beside money that stayed elsewhere.

Reached nature or the ground

Not published
Damage for the removal of rare animals (Ukrainian side as reported)85m
The article does not name the calculating body. The total damage from the occupation has not been calculated.

Gained elsewhere

Not totalled
Currency: UAH · Window: Not specified. All figures cover the same period. * Estimate built from cited figures.

Responses on record

  • Russian side (30 March 2025): No official response is recorded in the article; a former occupation official, Bystryantsev, claimed that the zoo animals were starving. · Current Time

In court and with insurers

Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.

Lawsuits and rulings

  1. 2025–Outcome not on record
    Ukrainian prosecutors v. Dmitry Meshcheryakov (removal of animals from the Askania-Nova reserve)
    Ukrainian court (indictment sent in February 2025) · Criminal · Ukrainian prosecutors → Dmitry Meshcheryakov, head of the reserve appointed by the occupation administration

    In February 2025 prosecutors sent to court an indictment charging him in connection with the removal of animals, including to the “Taigan” park in Crimea (Current Time, March 2025). Current Time

  2. 2026-04-09Claimant wonUAH 85.2m damage in the case, UAH 85.2 million
    Verdict against the occupation-appointed director of Askania-Nova (removal of animals)
    Ukrainian court · Criminal · Ukrainian prosecutors → The Russian-installed director of the reserve (name not given in the article)

    On 9 April 2026 a court convicted the Russian-installed director of the reserve and sentenced him to 15 years in prison with confiscation of property and a 15-year ban on holding public posts, according to the Office of the Prosecutor General as reported by Kyiv Post. The conviction was under war-crime provisions, not the ecocide article. Kyiv Post

Insurers

No insurer decision on record.

What nature saw

Outcomes measured on the ground, and nature's note.

Nature's report opens this page. Below: further outcomes measured on the ground.

Animals removed
4 species
Two each of four species, per Olha Filina
Animal deaths recorded
33
Current Time, March 2025
Large fires
2
August and September 2023; no hectare figures
Damage (removal of rare animals)
UAH 85.2m
Ukrainian side as reported

What we don't know

Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.
Court ruling exists

Nature

  • Disputed Condition and care of the reserve's animals

Court

  • Unclear Ukrainian prosecutors v. Dmitry Meshcheryakov (removal of animals from the Askania-Nova reserve): outcome not on record.

Accounts

  • None on record Russian authorities: No official response in the article cited.

Record

  • Not disclosed Not disclosed: The body that calculated the UAH 85.2 million figure.
  • Not measured Not measured: The area burned or ploughed in the 2023 fires; no hectare figures are given.
  • Insufficient Insufficient: The total damage from the occupation has not been calculated, and no budget figures for the reserve are given.
  • None on record None on record: An official response from the Russian side in the article cited.
  • None on record None on record: enforcement of the confiscation order, or a Russian response to the verdict.
  • Unclear Unclear: whether the April 2026 verdict concerns the same person named in the February 2025 indictment; the article on the verdict gives no name.

Did the harm stop?

None on record.

Who paid?

None on record.

Sources

Voices on record: — Company or project— Government and regulators— Courts✓ Press and investigations— Communities and civil society— Researchers

Press and investigations

Connected cases

Related matters, and cases linked to this one through the same organisations, with the role each played in both.
Terms used on this page

Science and environment

Hectare (ha)
A unit of area equal to 10,000 square metres, about 2.5 acres. 100 hectares make one square kilometre.
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