In an op-ed for Ukrainska Pravda, Nataliia Pavlovych, Legal Adviser at GRC, examines Russia’s destruction of the Meganom Peninsula in occupied Crimea and explains why it constitutes a war crime under international humanitarian law.
Once a protected natural monument under Ukrainian law, the Meganom Peninsula has been deliberately destroyed under Russia’s illegal occupation. Since its formation, this 850-hectare natural site preserved a rare combination of steppe and coastal ecosystems, hosting endemic plant species and serving as a vital stopover along major bird migration routes.
That protection ended with Russia’s occupation.
In December 2019, Russians installed occupation authorities unlawfully stripped the Peninsula of its protected status and transferred it into Russian federal ownership. Large-scale construction followed, transforming a fragile natural sanctuary into the so-called “Tavrida” art cluster — a cultural and leisure complex designed to promote Russian narratives on occupied Ukrainian territory.
By now, excavation, infrastructure development, and sustained human pressure most likely had irreversibly altered the landscape.
This destruction violates international humanitarian law.
Under Article 53 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, destruction of property in occupied territory is prohibited unless rendered absolutely necessary by military operations. Serious damage inflicted upon the protected natural monument through its conversion into a tourist and cultural complex is a manifestly non-military destruction. This act constitutes a war crime.
Meganom is not an isolated case. More than 500 protected natural areas in Ukraine remain under Russian occupation, vulnerable to exploitation and destruction.
“The occupiers’ deliberate damage to the Peninsula and the killing of the nature and biodiversity contained therein is a war crime – the destruction of invaluable property that is as much a crime as it is a tragedy,” says Nataliia Pavlovych.
🔗 Read the full op-ed by Nataliia Pavlovych.
🔗Read the full op-ed in Ukrainian here.
MJTs operate as part of the Atrocity Crimes Advisory (ACA) Group for Ukraine – a multilateral initiative established by the United Kingdom, the European Union, and the United States to support and assist Ukrainian prosecutors in investigating and prosecuting international crimes committed during a full-scale war.