US Monitors Environmental Situation In Ukraine Amid Russia's Special Operation - Reports

A group of officials from 21 US federal agencies is closely monitoring the environmental situation in Ukraine amid Russia's special military operation, Axios reported on Friday

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th May, 2022) A group of officials from 21 US Federal agencies is closely monitoring the environmental situation in Ukraine amid Russia's special military operation, Axios reported on Friday.

The main task of the interagency group is to assist the Ukrainian government with tracking and mitigating potential environmental hazards, including those that could last past the end of the conflict, the report said, citing unnamed senior US officials.

The group was created about a month ago at a request of the Ukrainian government and includes representatives from the US Environmental Protection Agency, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, US Forest Service, US Geological Survey, Defense Department and NASA, the report said.

Within the apparatus of the State Department, the group is known as the "Interagency Working Group on Environmental Damage in Ukraine" and focuses on air pollution, wildfires, waste and debris management and biodiversity loss, among other issues, the report said.

According to the officials cited in the report, Ukraine is seeking to use data collected by the US interagency group to hold Russia accountable for the alleged environmental damage as a result of the special operation.

On February 24, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine after the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk requested help to defend them from intensifying attacks by Ukrainian troops. The Russian Ministry of Defense said the operation is solely targeting Ukrainian military infrastructure and the civilian population is not in danger.