Chronicle of Russia’s War Crimes Against Ukraine’s Environment: Odesa Oblast, September 2024
What happened in Odesa region in September 2024 can be described as terror against the civilian population. Failing to achieve success on the front line and unable to retake the part of Kursk Oblast captured by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Russian army is taking revenge on residents of Ukrainian cities and villages, including in Odesa Oblast.
We collect facts about the Russian Federation’s crimes against nature in Odesa and Odesa Oblast during the war: environmental pollution caused by explosions and damage to infrastructure, contamination of air, water and soil with toxic substances, destruction of ecosystems in protected natural areas and conservation areas of international importance, and more. The information will be updated daily, so please send any facts known to you to: zeleniy.list1@gmal.com
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What Is Wrong with Decommunization in Odesa
Today, against the backdrop of the Odesa local authorities’ overt sabotage of the Law of Ukraine “On the Condemnation and Prohibition of Propaganda of Russian Imperial Policy in Ukraine and the Decolonization of Toponymy,” a threatening situation has also developed regarding compliance with the Law of Ukraine “On the Condemnation of the Communist and National Socialist (Nazi) Totalitarian Regimes in Ukraine and the Prohibition of Propaganda of Their Symbols,” which entered into force back on 21 May 2015.
In our view, this is connected with the mayor’s position. From 2014 right up to the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Hennadii Leonidovych played the card of Odesa’s pro-Russian separatism in his domestic political struggle. His position shifted depending on the foreign-policy landscape and the situation at the front: from “The people in Crimea made their choice” in an interview with Green Leaf journalist Vira Zaporozhets on 10 May 2014 to “I am worried by the growth of hatred of all things Russian” in an interview with The New York Times, 18 June 2022.
One litmus test of the consequences of this kind of “concern” on Trukhanov’s part is the effort to preserve symbols of Soviet rule and imperial toponymy. Even though the Historical and Toponymic Commission, at its meeting on 18 December 2023 (Minutes No. 7.2-2023), decided to recommend removing the image of the Order of Lenin from the Wings of Victory Memorial, that decision is simply being ignored.
On 2 September 2024, an appeal was sent to the mayor of Odesa by Odesa City Council deputy Maryna Boiko as well. However, the editorial office received no response to that letter.
On 7 September 2024, Serhii Hutsaliuk also stated that the Odesa city authorities were sabotaging implementation of the decommunization law..
This state of affairs in Odesa is also connected with the position of the police
When necessary, the police simply “do not see” blatant violations of these laws and are in no hurry to enforce their provisions.
On 20 September, Green Leaf appealed to Police Department No. 3, opposite which the bas-relief “Fighters for Soviet Power in Odesa” still stands. It was erected in honour of revolutionaries who died during the January uprising — the armed revolt of 1918 organized by the Bolshevik Party against the Ukrainian Central Rada and the Ukrainian People’s Republic during the advance of Bolshevik troops. As a result of the uprising, the city came under Bolshevik control and the lawful authorities in Odesa were overthrown.
Green Leaf also appealed to the Main Directorate of the National Police in Odesa Oblast regarding a memorial plaque to Komsomol members and Communists that still remains on the building at 44 Preobrazhenska Street.
Both symbols of Soviet rule fall within the scope of the Law. Yet the police are not only in no hurry to enforce the Law; on the contrary, their presence appears to protect symbols of the era of the Soviet occupation of Odesa.
At the same time, the police intervene when civic activists try to fulfil the requirements of the Law themselves, but can think of nothing better than drawing up reports under Article 173 of the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offences (petty hooliganism).
So we end up with a Law adopted, among other things, to safeguard human and civil rights and freedoms and to outlaw symbols of the Soviet era; we have the police duty to protect human rights and freedoms; and we have the reality in which the city authorities and the police do not want to comply with the requirements of a Law adopted almost ten years ago.
Chronicle of Russia’s War Crimes Against Ukraine’s Environment: Odesa Oblast, August 2024
On the eve of Ukraine’s Independence Day, we were repeatedly warned about a possible massive combined Russian attack. But instead of 24 August, the Russian occupiers committed another crime on 26 August. The targets of the strike, which used various means of attack, were energy infrastructure and other civilian facilities. In total, Russian terrorists launched 127 missiles of various types and 109 Shahed-136 kamikaze drones at Ukraine. Fifteen regions, including Odesa Oblast, were affected by Russia’s attacks.
We collect facts about the Russian Federation’s crimes against nature in Odesa and Odesa Oblast during the war: environmental pollution caused by explosions and damage to infrastructure, contamination of air, water and soil with toxic substances, destruction of ecosystems in protected natural areas and conservation areas of international importance, and more. The information will be updated daily, so please send any facts known to you to: zeleniy.list1@gmal.com
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Odesa’s 2024 Draft City Charter: Positive and Negative Aspects
Since 2022, Green Leaf has devoted considerable attention to the current Charter of the City of Odesa, adopted in its 2011 version. In our analysis “Charter of the City of Odesa: Analysis of Shortcomings” we showed that the Charter has an openly anti-Ukrainian wording, makes any civic activity more difficult, and expands the powers of the executive committee at the expense of the powers of the elected council. After that, taking into account the problems exposed by this analysis, the city began developing a new City Charter.
The first draft of the new Charter was published in 2023. At the same time, the city administration announced that it would collect comments and proposals from the public on the draft. In addition to Green Leaf NGO, which presented its position in “Comments and Proposals on the Draft Charter of the City of Odesa”, other civic associations and individual specialists also examined the document, each in their own field and each submitting comments and/or proposals.
It took the city authorities more than a year to take public opinion into account, after which they presented the 2024 draft Charter of the City of Odesa, for which comments and proposals are being accepted through 9 September 2024.
The good
In terms of content, one positive aspect of the new draft is that many of the identified errors and shortcomings have indeed been corrected. At long last, Odesa City Council has acknowledged that Odesa is a city within Ukraine! Finally!!! To recall, the 2011 version stated the following: “Odesa residents are proud of their traditions of courage and patriotism, rooted in the exploits of Russian servicemen and Ukrainian Cossacks.” It was also possible to push through the abandonment of the practice of publishing civic activists’ personal data on the official website and to bring the number of votes required for civic initiatives down to objectively reasonable levels.
The bad
The proposals we submitted in 2023 to include the following provisions in the draft Charter:
- — on transparency of the city budget and public involvement in the budget process (not to be confused with the participatory budget);
- — on municipal enterprises;
- — on municipal property and its disposal;
- — on negligent performance by city-council deputies of their duties, negligent performance by officials of local self-government executive bodies of their official duties, and remuneration for their work;
were ignored altogether. This points to a selective approach and a desire on the part of the local authorities to preserve their political influence and financial influence that creates corruption risks.
The city authorities’ reluctance to include young people aged 14 to 18 in the city’s political life and to give them voting rights in forms of direct participation in resolving issues of local importance, subject to restrictions established by law, is difficult to understand. It is true that voting rights in elections and referendums begin at age 18. Yet in other forms of local democracy the city authorities demonstrate a clear reluctance to involve people aged 14 to 18. Whether this is fear of young people, who are one of the drivers of change in Ukraine, or something else is difficult to say. But the exclusion of this age group from the current Charter and the 2023 draft, and the granting of only an advisory vote to this age group in the 2024 draft Charter, clearly point to this. This is despite the fact that young people in this age group may serve on the youth council under the mayor.
There is no indication whatsoever of an intention to use the right provided by current legislation to establish rules of deputy ethics and measures to be applied to city-council deputies who violate those rules.
Some provisions of the draft Charter do not comply with current legislation.
- 1. Clause 5 of Part 5 of Article 23 refers to “self-taxation,” which was abolished at the end of 2010.
- 2. Although the law directly requires local self-government bodies to publish information about publicly owned property, the city council merely “facilitates” the creation and maintenance of such a register for some reason.
- 3. A mayoral oath has now also been added, but the procedure for taking it is incorrect. Moreover, once the new Law enters into force, the text of the Oath set out in the draft Charter will not correspond to the text of the Oath in the new Law. It is even less clear why this provision should be included in the Charter at all when it is already regulated by legislation.
- 4. Russian narratives again appear among the city’s holidays and commemorative dates, such as 2 September as City Day, even though it has long been demonstrated that this is an artificial date. They also want to introduce an unclear celebration on 3 September as “Twin City and Partner City Day.” Yet the internationally recognized date is World Twinning Day, established in 1963 by the World Federation of United Cities and observed on the last Sunday of April. The proposal to establish city holidays and commemorative dates by analogy with the way the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine does so was also ignored.
- 5. They are also trying to leave unchanged the mayor’s right, acting alone or through a city-council decision, to establish other distinctions and awards of the territorial community at any time.
- 6. The situation with the city’s district administrations is unclear, as their functions duplicate those of specialized structures within the executive bodies. Yet city-budget funds are continuously spent on them.
- 7. It is unclear on what grounds those collecting signatures in support of civic initiatives or public hearings are to be required to verify the documents of people signing in support of such an initiative or hearing. Current legislation does not provide for this.
- 8. It is unacceptable to replace the city-council deputies’ obligation to consider draft decisions arising from a civic initiative with the deputies’ discretion over whether to consider such issues at all. Instead of mandatory consideration, the central requirement would become merely placing such a proposal before the council chamber.
- 9. There are also questions about reducing the number of votes required to amend or repeal the Charter.
On renaming toponymic objects.
We will separately address the renaming of toponymic objects. The 2023 draft Charter sought to allow city toponymic objects to be named or renamed after individuals only ten years after their death. In effect, this would prohibit naming toponymic objects after fallen service members — people who gave their lives defending Ukraine from the Russian horde.
To date, five streets in Odesa have been renamed after Heroes, but the process was accompanied by numerous scandals. The 2024 draft Charter introduces an exception: for commemorating fallen warriors whose life and/or activity was connected with the city of Odesa and who, since February 2014, received the title Hero of Ukraine; were full holders of the Order for Courage (Classes I, II and III together); the Order of Bohdan Khmelnytskyi (Classes I, II and III together); or, for women, the Order of Princess Olha (Classes I, II and III together). In effect, all warriors who died defending Ukraine would be divided into those who received state awards and those who, for whatever reason, did not.
Conclusion
Green Leaf NGO is currently completing its analysis of the proposed 2024 draft Charter. After we submit our comments and proposals to Odesa City Council, they will be published. Summing up the above, we believe that even the revised 2024 draft Charter requires fundamental reworking.
Chronicle of Russia’s War Crimes Against Ukraine’s Environment: Odesa Oblast, July 2024
Throughout July, Russian terrorists continued their missile and Shahed terror against residents of Odesa Region.
We collect facts about crimes committed by the Russian Federation against the natural environment of Odesa and Odesa Region during the war: environmental pollution caused by explosions and damage to infrastructure, contamination of air, water and soil with toxic substances, destruction of ecosystems in protected areas and internationally important conservation areas, and more. The information will be updated daily, so please send facts known to you to: zeleniy.list1@gmal.com
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“Deep-Water Outfall”: Environmental Consequences of Corrupt Actions by Authorities in Odesa Oblast
In July this year, Odesa residents began complaining en masse about a terrible stench. The smell becomes particularly strong at night, when the nocturnal sea breeze begins to blow from land toward the sea. At the same time, mass fish kills were observed throughout July in the Khadzhibey Estuary. Inspectors of the Odesa Fish Protection Patrol repeatedly recorded this unfortunate phenomenon. Following their report, the State Environmental Inspectorate of the South-Western District checked the condition of the water in the estuary and found that the concentration of ammonium nitrogen exceeded the maximum permissible level by 66 times.
How are these phenomena connected — the stench in the air, polluted water, and fish kills in the Khadzhibey Estuary near Odesa? What do the deep-water outfall and the state of the marine environment in Odesa Bay have to do with it?
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“The Fate of My Country Is Being Decided.” A Lane in Odesa’s Historic Center Named After Fallen Defender Dmytro Lesych
The Russian-Ukrainian war is killing the flower of the Ukrainian nation. In particular, young people who showed great promise but whom the war never gave a chance to fully realize themselves in peaceful life. People such as 24-year-old Odesa lawyer Dmytro Lesych.
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A Street in Central Odesa Is Named After Artist and Warrior Borys Aizenberg, Who Gave the City Trees
A year ago, in July 2023, Odesa bid farewell to one of the city’s most worthy residents, artist, architect and Warrior Borys Aizenberg. On July 26, 2024, by Order No. 694/A-2024 of Odesa Regional Military Administration head Oleh Kiper, “On Renaming Toponymic Objects in Settlements of Odesa Region,” Kataiev Lane in Odesa was renamed in honor of Borys Aizenberg. Members of the Green Leaf NGO had the honor of knowing Borys as a generous patron who helped us implement Odesa greening programs by donating trees from his Sadproekt nursery.
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Chronicle of Russia’s War Crimes Against Ukraine’s Environment: Odesa Oblast, June 2024
In June 2024, Russian war criminals attacked Odesa and Odesa Region not only with drones but also with missiles, including ballistic weapons. Port, near-port and recreational infrastructure were targeted. Residential buildings were also damaged.
We collect facts about crimes committed by the Russian Federation against the natural environment of Odesa and Odesa Region during the war: environmental pollution caused by explosions and damage to infrastructure, contamination of air, water and soil with toxic substances, destruction of ecosystems in protected areas and internationally important conservation areas, and more. The information will be updated daily, so please send facts known to you to: zeleniy.list1@gmal.com
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