Nature Parks Protection in Ukraine: Askania-Nova, Biosphere Reserves, and Wartime Conservation

Ukraine's system of protected natural areas — encompassing approximately 7% of the country's territory across four categories (nature reserves / zapovedniky, national nature parks, biosphere reserves, and regional landscape parks) as of 2021 — faced unprecedented challenges after Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022. Protected areas in occupied southern and eastern territories fell under Russian military control with management systems eliminated. Areas near the frontline experienced direct damage from military action, including fires ignited by incendiary munitions, explosive contamination from ordnance scatter, and the disturbance of wildlife by military movement and noise. The 2023 Kakhovka Dam destruction caused a catastrophic flood followed by irreversible drawdown of the reservoir — directly impacting multiple nominally protected wetland and floodplain ecosystems in the lower Dnipro region. International conservation organisations with existing partnerships with Ukrainian protected area authorities mobilised rapidly to provide emergency support to accessible areas and document the full extent of damage to those under occupation.

Askania-Nova: Europe's Largest Steppe Reserve Under Occupation

Askania-Nova Biosphere Reserve, located in Kherson Oblast's Chaplynka Raion in southern Ukraine, is one of the most irreplaceable conservation sites in Europe: the world's largest extant area of virgin steppe (never ploughed), a UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Reserve, a Ramsar Wetland of International Importance (the Askania artificial lake complex), and home to a unique acclimatisation zoo that maintains populations of Przewalski's horses, wisent (European bison), saiga antelope, and numerous other large ungulates in semi-wild steppe conditions. Askania-Nova was occupied by Russian forces in March 2022 and remained under occupation as of 2024. Information about the state of the reserve, its zoo animals, and its scientific collections (the Institute of Animal Breeding in Steppes maintained important genetic archives) was available only sporadically through reports from staff remaining onsite under occupation conditions. International concern focused on: the welfare of zoo animals under occupation management by personnel uncertified in zoo animal care; potential exploitation of the reserve's livestock and draft animal stocks by occupying forces; ground disturbance by military movement and potential trenching through the virgin steppe; and the integrity of the scientific collections and archives.

Protected Areas: Damage Assessment Overview

Kakhovka Dam Disaster and Lower Dnipro Wetlands

The destruction of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Dam on 6 June 2023 caused an immediate catastrophic flood in the lower Dnipro region — releasing approximately 18 km³ of water in a pulse that inundated settlements, agricultural land, and ecological areas along 80 km of river corridor — followed by the irreversible drawdown of the Kakhovka Reservoir, the largest reservoir by area in Europe. The ecological consequences for protected areas and wildlife in the lower Dnipro region were severe. Nyzhnodniprovskyi National Nature Park, which encompasses significant wetland, floodplain forest, and reed bed habitats in the Dnipro delta and lower Kherson Oblast, experienced both the initial flood pulse (which dispersed wildlife and disrupted nesting) and the subsequent sustained change in water regime as the reservoir drawdown altered groundwater levels throughout the delta system. Ornithological surveys accessible to Ukrainian biologists after the liberation of right-bank Kherson Oblast areas documented significant impact on waterfowl breeding colonies in 2023, compounding the ecological disruption of refugee wildlife from flooded areas. The full ecological succession trajectory following such a large-scale, rapid hydrogeological change is a decades-long process unprecedented in modern European conservation science.

International Conservation Support

Ukraine's wartime protected area challenges attracted substantial international conservation support through multiple channels. IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) established a dedicated Ukraine task force in 2022 that coordinated financial support, technical expertise, and advocacy for Ukraine's protected area system. WWF-Ukraine, operating within the WWF European network, provided financial support to protected area staff in accessible areas and coordinated documentation of damage to protected areas in occupied and frontline zones through remote sensing analysis. The Frankfurt Zoological Society and other European zoo associations mobilised emergency support for Ukrainian zoological collections, including the transfer of some zoo animals from conflict-zone facilities to safer western Ukrainian or European partner institutions. EUROBATS (the Agreement on the Conservation of Populations of European Bats) and other species-specific international bodies activated emergency protocols for endangered species monitoring. The European Commission's LIFE programme — its primary biodiversity and conservation financing instrument — explored wartime emergency funding extension to Ukraine as a component of the broader EU-Ukraine biodiversity cooperation framework that is part of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement environmental chapter.

Wartime Challenges for Park Rangers and Staff

Beyond the ecological impacts, Ukraine's protected area system faced severe workforce challenges. Male staff of military draft age (18–60) were subject to general mobilisation legislation, creating potential loss of experienced rangers — particularly critical at small reserves where institutional knowledge was concentrated in a handful of specialists. Many protected area staff were IDPs from occupied zones; those in occupied Askania-Nova, Khomutovska Steppe, and other southern reserves either remained under occupation, evacuation, or were cut off from communication. The Ukrainian government issued regulatory provisions allowing mobilisation deferrals for critical conservation staff in some categories, recognising that irreplaceable genetic collections and wildlife managed by specific individuals could be lost during any management gap. For accessible areas in western and central Ukraine, many protected areas actually experienced increased visitor pressure — as domestic tourists substituted Carpathian and western Ukrainian parks for previously visit east and coastal destinations — requiring additional ranger staffing at the same time that financial and personnel resources were stressed.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Askania-Nova a UNESCO World Heritage Site?

Askania-Nova is designated under the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme as a Biosphere Reserve — a different UNESCO designation from the World Heritage List. Ukraine has one property inscribed on the World Heritage List in Crimea (Ancient City of Tauric Chersonesos — now inaccessible under Russian occupation since 2014) and five others accessible on the Ukrainian mainland, including the Historic Centre of Lviv, Saint-Sophia Cathedral complex in Kyiv, Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, Struve Geodetic Arc (shared with other countries), and the Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians (shared). Askania-Nova is also a Ramsar Wetland of International Importance for its lagoon system. The distinction matters because World Heritage designation activates specific UNESCO response mechanisms and monitoring obligations that are formally distinct from Biosphere Reserve mechanisms — although in practice, the UNESCO MAB Secretariat has been active in coordinating international response to Askania-Nova's occupation alongside other intergovernmental bodies.

What happened to the Przewalski's horses at Askania-Nova?

Askania-Nova maintained one of the world's largest semi-wild populations of Przewalski's horses (Equus ferus przewalskii) — the only truly wild horse subspecies never domesticated — as part of its acclimatisation programme, with the reserve's herd representing a genetically significant portion of the global zoo and semi-wild Przewalski's horse population. After occupation began, communication with reserve staff became intermittent and information unreliable. Reports from staff in contact with external parties indicated that the herd had remained largely intact in the early months of occupation, with reserve agricultural workers continuing basic livestock care. However, concerns were raised about: the use of reserve horses and other ungulates for food by occupying forces (documented practices at some occupied agricultural facilities in southern Ukraine); potential deliberate vandalism or exploitation of the genetic archive; and the long-term management capability of occupation-appointed administrators without professional zoological training. The IUCN Species Survival Commission's Equid Specialist Group was engaged in tracking available information about the herd status and planning a post-liberation assessment and potential supplementary breeding intervention if population losses were confirmed.

How does UXO contamination affect wildlife in protected areas?

Unexploded ordnance in or adjacent to protected areas creates multiple ecological impacts beyond the direct mortality risk from detonation. The primary mechanisms are: contamination of soil and water by explosive compounds (primarily TNT, RDX, and related organic nitro compounds) that leach from partially buried, degrading munitions — these compounds are toxic to soil invertebrates and may accumulate in plant tissues and the food chain; heavy metal contamination from munitions casings (primarily lead and copper from various projectile types) — lead contamination of soil and water at high-density fire zones can reach levels toxic to waterfowl; and barrier effects — UXO-contaminated areas become effectively inaccessible for human management (ranger operations, monitoring, invasive species control), allowing habitat degradation processes to proceed unmanaged. For Ukrainian protected areas, UXO contamination creates a complex interaction with biodiversity: some areas excluded from human access because of UXO danger may paradoxically experience reduced human disturbance pressure (no agriculture, no vehicle access, no tourism) potentially benefiting some wildlife, while management-dependent conservation values (rare plant communities requiring controlled grazing, breeding bird colonies requiring predator control) suffer from management absence.

What is Ukraine's national protected area coverage target?

Ukraine's target under the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement environmental chapter approximation commitments, and consistent with the EU Biodiversity Strategy 2030 (30x30 target — 30% terrestrial and marine area under protection by 2030), is to significantly expand protected area coverage from approximately 7% of territory in 2021. The Ukrainian government's National Environmental Strategy incorporated the 30x30 target in alignment with EU expectations and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (adopted December 2022, committing all signatories including Ukraine to the 30x30 objective). In practice, achieving this during wartime is impossible: expansion of protected areas in occupied or frontline zones is de facto suspended, and formal designation processes (requiring topographic survey, stakeholder consultation, environmental assessments, and parliamentary procedures) are disrupted by wartime institutional conditions. However, planning work for post-war protected area expansion continues and some western Ukrainian regional landscape parks received updated management plans during 2022–2024 as accessible areas continued normal governance processes.

Are Chornobyl Exclusion Zone wildlife populations affected by the 2022 invasion?

The Chornobyl Exclusion Zone (CEZ) — which functions as a de facto wildlife reserve due to decades of human absence and has supported recovering populations of wolf, lynx, roe deer, boar, and other species despite background radiation levels — was occupied by Russian forces from 24 February to 30 March 2022. During occupation, Russian forces constructed fortifications, trenches, and movement routes through the exclusion zone, disturbing habitats and potentially mobilising radioactive contaminated soil through ground disturbance. Fires initiated during the occupation period — whether caused by military activity or by vegetation fires spreading into the zone — generated radioactive smoke plumes that were monitored by Ukrainian and EU radiation monitoring networks. After Russian withdrawal, Ukrainian scientists conducted rapid radiological assessments and found elevated radiation readings at some disturbed sites but no catastrophic spread of contaminated material beyond the existing exclusion zone boundary. The wildlife disturbance from 35 days of military occupation was assessed as relatively short-term compared to the decades of human exclusion effect — by late 2022, monitoring indicated wildlife had returned to previously disturbed areas. The scientific community specifically documented wolfpack territory disruption from human military movement as a measurable ecological effect of the brief occupation period.

Sources

1. Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine. Protected areas: wartime status report. Kyiv: Мінприроди, 2022–2024.
2. IUCN. Ukraine Emergency Task Force: protected area impact assessment. Gland: International Union for Conservation of Nature, 2022–2024.
3. WWF Ukraine. Nature conservation under fire: Ukraine's ecosystems and the war. Kyiv/Berlin: WWF, 2022–2023.
4. UNEP. Rapid environmental assessment of Ukraine. Nairobi: UN Environment Programme, 2022–2024.
5. Ramsar Convention Secretariat. Wetlands of Ukraine: occupied and conflict-affected Ramsar sites. Gland: Ramsar, 2022–2023.