Former Kellogg PhD Fellow Kristina Hook (PhD '20) recently testified at a US congressional briefing on her research into the environmental impacts of Russia's war in Ukraine.
The briefing, which took place on July 14, examines the estimated nearly $60 billion damages caused to Ukraine’s environment in the years since Russia initiated the war. This includes the decimation of agricultural land, the contamination of vast swaths of the country with toxic chemicals and heavy metals, nature reservations being consumed by fire, and much more. The damages to the country’s environment are so vast that Ukraine’s Prosecutor General has begun an investigation into “ecocide,” environmental destruction, at the hands of Russia.
Kristina Hook received her PhD in anthropology and peace studies at the University of Notre Dame. Hook’s 2018-2019 dissertation explores Soviet-era Holodomor mass atrocities and how these events influence current interpretations of Ukraine’s present-day armed conflict. During her doctoral work she conducted extensive fieldwork in Ukraine.