Though the world tends to focus primarily on the human tragedy, the Russian-Ukrainian war causes irreversible damage in other areas as well. For example, in marine life. The biggest shock was last summer’s Kakhovka dam explosion by Russians – the flooded Dnipro river carried everything into the sea – but there are also constant phenomenons: underwater combat activities have been continuously polluting the environment since February 2022, and sonars used for reconnaissance could have killed tens of thousands of dolphins. At least this is what is claimed by Ivan Rusev of the Tuzly National Nature Park operating in Budzhak, the Ukrainian corner of the former Bessarabia. Emma Strauss, the Hungarian documentarist, has shot a short film about the worried-but-full-of-plans researcher. Full of inimitable images, Válasz Online is pleased to present the work of the Berlin-based freelance video reporter.

On a remote, peaceful beach on the Black Sea shoreline in southern Ukraine Ivan Rusev picked up his binoculars and scanned the horizon last month. “I see different species of migratory birds, cormorans, seagulls, but I unfortunately don’t see any dolphins… alive.” he said without lowering the binoculars.

The 63-year-old scientist and conservationist is the head of research at the Tuzly National Nature Park. He wears head to toe camouflage and a bucket hat most days, has a never-fading tan and friendly eyes. He can name almost every single plant, insect, bird and mammal inhabiting the national park in at least three languages.

Spending time in Nature brings joy to Ivan. But now he has a cause for immediate concern: the unusual decline in the number of native Black Sea dolphins – dolphins he remembers swimming among as a child.

Ivan fears that – in a little known impact of the Russian invasion of his country – up to 50,000 dolphins may have died in the first year of the conflict alone.