The second panel was dedicated to the militarization of the peninsula and the transformation of the Black Sea into an instrument of pressure. This affects global maritime security and freedom of navigation, as well as impacting food and energy stability and the ecological situation. The panel also discussed how the international community is responding to these systemic challenges.

The panel featured:

• Illia Pavlenko, Major General, former Deputy Head of the Operations of the Defense Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine
• Mykhailo Honchar, President of the Center for Global Studies “Strategy XXI,” Editor-in-Chief of the Black Sea Security magazine
• Pier Carlo Sandei, Senior Program Officer at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in Ukraine
• Pavlo Goldin, Doctor of Biological Sciences, Professor, Leading Researcher at the I. I. Schmalhausen Institute of Zoology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, joined online.

The panel was moderated by Alina Frolova, Deputy Chairman of the Center for Defense Strategies.

Mykhailo Honchar began the panel by stating that actions within the framework of international conventions are not yielding results, so without well-developed, clear mechanisms and coordination with the “Coalition of the Resolute,” holding Russia accountable will not happen. According to him, action is needed not only in the Black Sea but also in other waters.

In turn, Illia Pavlenko noted that Russia’s Black Sea Fleet is no longer a classic naval force but has become an instrument of pressure and terror. He said that Russia is blocking sea routes, restricting exports, and using hybrid tactics. He stressed that Moscow is trying to profit from “chaos,” so mere statements are not enough—real accountability mechanisms and a clear understanding that there will be consequences for these actions are needed.

“The threat is that Russia expects the world to get used to its practices and for everything to gradually ‘normalize.’ This cannot be allowed to happen. There is information that Russia plans to intensify its efforts this year to legitimize the seizure of Crimea. Our task is to prevent this,” emphasized Illia Pavlenko.

According to Pavlo Goldin, over the 12 years of Russian occupation, the environment in the Black Sea has been negatively affected. The main threats are chemical and biological pollution, particularly from the Russian fleet. One of the most severe threats is mining and shipwrecks. Separately, Pavlo Goldin focused on the issue of human rights violations in Crimea and recalled that last year, Russia illegally imprisoned Leonid Pshenichny, a biologist and Antarctic expert.

In conclusion, Pier Carlo Sandei noted that the environmental losses of the war are almost impossible to accurately assess in monetary terms. A house can be rebuilt, but an ecosystem cannot: after the destruction of the Kakhovka dam, a living natural system disappeared that cannot be restored overnight. He added that UNEP does not have access to the occupied territories and therefore cannot fully verify the extent of the damage, particularly after the tanker accidents in the Kerch Strait. Sandei also emphasized the regional dimension: pollution of the Black Sea extends beyond Ukraine, and the sea itself is a fragile, enclosed ecosystem that needs to be restored primarily through land-based and coastal actions.

“We started looking at the Black Sea because the Black Sea is extremely important to make the rest of the world aware that this is not a war only in Ukraine, of Ukraine. It is a war of regional and global dimension and impact. We are trying to raise the profile of the regional dimension of the war, because the consequences are felt beyond Ukrainian borders,” Pier Carlo Sandei noted.

Event Organizers: The Mission of the President of Ukraine in the AR of Crimea / Office of the Crimea Platform, Crimean Human Rights Group, Human Rights Center ZMINA, CrimeaSOS.