In my hometown of Mykolaiv this summer, I met environmental scholar Inna Tymchenko. She is leading a campaign to preserve parts of a nearby national park, Buzkyi Gard, from flooding by a local nuclear power complex. Buzkyi Gard is situated around granite canyons and the rapids of the Southern Buh river – an unusual landscape amid the otherwise plain grasslands of southern Ukraine.
It might seem to those following the news that nothing in Ukraine exists outside of Russia’s war. It’s true that war encompasses all areas of life – but other struggles, such as for environmental or gender rights, continue too. Often chronically underfunded, Ukraine’s ecological initiatives and institutions are working in even tougher conditions as a result of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Yet researchers, volunteers and activists – like Tymchenko – continue fighting for the lives of Ukraine’s ecosystems against construction companies, corporations and industries, while also facing the environmental impact of the Russian invasion. In Tymchenko’s case, she has led research and campaign efforts to protect Buzkyi Gard from development since 2015 – an effort that continues despite Russia’s war.
