In April 2022, I reflected on the environmental impact of the war in Ukraine by reimagining it through Lesia Ukraïnka’s fairy-drama “Forest Song.” On the verge of the invasion’s one-year anniversary, my evaluation of its environmental consequences is far more severe.

This is not the time to give in to techno-pessimism, nor over-rely on techno-optimism—though closing the sky is long overdue and those fighter jets are sorely needed! Also needed is the development of and financial incentivization for more sustainable green energies. When Russia’s war on Ukraine is over, Ukrainians and the world will have to confront that other “secret war.” The environmental nightmare facing Polissia and the nonhuman across Ukraine is, after all, another Soviet legacy that sovereign, independent Ukraine is more than capable of taking on.