The full-scale russian military offense against Ukraine, launched by the putin regime on February 24, 2022, changed the life of every Ukrainian, the Ukrainian civil society in general, and the Ukrainian national platform of EaP CSF in particular. While prior to the full-scale russian invasion of Ukraine, the priorities for the Ukrainian National Platform of the EaP CSF focused on the European integration and corresponding reforms in the target areas, as well as on the future of the Eastern Partnership, which were considered through the prism of Ukraine joining the European Green Deal and post COVID-19 recovery, after February 24, the focus has shifted to the impact of the war to Ukraine \u2013 its society, its environment, and its European future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The war forced to redirect the efforts of CSOs to emergency relief efforts, such as helping people in the war affected\/occupied areas, support nature protected sites and nature reserves work, assistance to the territorial defense units and army, registering corresponding environmental damage from the war, ecocide occurrences, targeted destruction of Ukraine\u2019s critical civil infrastructure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, just after a few months of the war and the russians\u2019 retreat from the occupied north of Ukraine, we were also able to cover more strategically important issues, such as environmental impact caused by russian aggression, damages and threats to energy security, and, perhaps most importantly, prospects for Ukraine\u2019s green recovery in the post-war period. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The EU candidacy status, that Ukraine has gained in June 2022 has brought a new and deeper meaning to the green post-war reconstruction of Ukraine \u2013 such green recovery became the key to building a successful, competitive country to join climate-neutral Europe in the future. Therefore, from that point onwards, both \u2013 the government and the civil society \u2013 have been focusing their efforts on these challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the same time, green reconstruction is impossible in conditions when environmental issues are removed from the first positions of state policy, which is not surprising for wartime conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n