Russia’s criminal disregard for ecology leads to anomaly in Sea of Azov

That’s according to Petro Andriushchenko, the adviser to the Mariupol mayor in exile, Ukrinform reports.

"Let's watch this week's video. October. The Sea of Azov Mariupol district. Jellyfish. This is an anomaly. As someone who was born and lived 46 out of his 48 years by the sea, I affirm: this has never happened here. October and jellyfish are like a blizzard in smoldering July," Andriushchenko wrote.

He added that the anomaly us due to a violation by Russia’s invasion forces of sanitary standards during the construction of a bridge over the Kalmius near the Azovstal steelworks (the Russians blew up the previous bridge last year).

"Let’s look at the bridge near Azovstal, restored by the Russians. To cut the story short, the riverbed has been narrowed by two-thirds for the sake of that bridge. So there is three times less fresh water flowing into the Sea of Azov. We will add two more bridges over the Kalchyk in Mariupol, for the sake of which they completely destroyed the natural flow. These are conscious actions aimed at critical disruption of the Azov region ecosystem. This is ecocide," explained the mayor's advisor.

As reported by Ukrinform, as a result of the Russo-Ukrainian war, the damage caused to the environment in Ukraine is estimated at $57 billion.