Ukraine’s animals are also victims of the war

The war in Ukraine, now two years old, has affected animals as well as humans—but not equally. Military activity is almost certainly responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of Black Sea dolphins; but Ukraine’s ban on wartime hunting has been good for foxes, whose numbers have exploded. The war has also caused untold ecological damage. Forests and steppe have burned and land and water have been contaminated by explosives and chemicals. At the beginning of this year the Ukrainian government claimed that the war had already caused some $56bn of damage to the country’s environment.