Occupiers steal animals from the Kherson nature reserve and transport them to Russia and Crimea.
Reserve “Biosphere reserve “Askania Nova”, which since 2022 has been under the control of the occupiers, is in a critical situation. The collaborators themselves complain that the animal reserve of the reserve is disappearing.
This was reported by the Center for National Resistance.
“The well-known leadership of the occupation authorities, animal thief Oleg Zubkov, appealed to all reserves and zoos in Russia with a request to share their animal fund in order to somehow replenish the almost destroyed unique reserve,” — the message says.
Askania-Nova has found itself in a zone of temporary occupation since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
44% of the areas of the natural reserve fund of Ukraine were at risk – due to potential fires, military operations, and the passage of military equipment. Moreover, the occupiers hunted unique animals here.
The occupiers also take animals out of the Kherson nature reserve and transport them to Russia and Crimea.
“The theft is committed within the framework of a “cooperation agreement”. The corresponding agreement is not valid, because it was concluded between the occupiers themselves,” writes the resistance.
Despite the critical situation in the reserve, On April 28, collaborators plan to hold a so-called Open Day there.
- In 2022, Russian occupiers seized the Askania-Nova Institute of Animal Husbandry. The invaders hung a Russian flag on the administrative building of the institute and introduced the so-called new director of the enterprise, who had previously worked at the Kherson customs. Then the majority of scientists refused to cooperate with the invaders.
- The Russian army placed military equipment on the territory of the Askania-Nova nature reserve.