New York’s chief environmental official left his day job behind to witness widespread devastation in Ukraine — and was shocked by the squalor of human waste, trash and even weapons left behind by Russian soldiers.
Basil Seggos, commissioner of New York state’s Department of Environmental Conservation, told The Post that Russia’s “terrorism on a grand scale” will require a monumental rebuilding effort in war-ravaged Ukraine.
Seggos took personal leave from the 3,000-employee agency late last month to drive donated ambulances from Uzhhorod in western Ukraine to Kyiv with US-based nonprofit Ukraine Friends.
The 13-hour, 500-mile trek over “some pretty rough roads” provided Seggos, 48, a firsthand glimpse of the horrors of war — as well as inspiring scenes of Ukrainian teens helping soldiers any way they can.
“Ultimately, we used Kyiv as a staging area to bring all these ambulances together and get them into the hands of the Territorial Defense Forces, as well as the Ministry of Health,” Seggos told The Post.
Ukraine Friends, working in conjunction with Rotary International, delivered 42 ambulances during the 11-day trip, which ended on Oct. 1. Altogether, the group has donated 47 ambulances since Russia invaded Ukraine in late February.
While traversing the western half of Ukraine after flying into Slovakia, Seggos said the group also installed a heater in a shelter in Mukachevo, put a roof on a bombed-out community center in Moshchun and rebuilt playgrounds in Katyuzhanka.
“I would call it terrorism on a grand scale,” Seggos said of the Russian attacks that destroyed countless homes and left many farm fields in Bucha, Moschun and Buzova near Kyiv littered with landmines.
Russian soldiers, Seggos said, have left behind “human waste, trash, debris, rusty weapons” — like this burned-out tank he saw. C MISTRAL-B
Russian soldiers have left behind human waste and trash as well. Getty Images
Seggos (left) met with Territorial Defense Forces on the front lines, near the Russian border. C MISTRAL-B“You couldn’t see it and not think that every single home that had been damaged was a war crime,” Seggos said. “And there are thousands and thousands of homes that are simply gone.”
Seggos also saw a village outside Kharkiv, Hlyboke, which Russian forces had “completely destroyed” and taken over before being beaten back by Ukrainian forces. The crude scene harkened back to something out of World War I, he said.
“Soldiers who were just living in squalor, subterranean bunk systems, mud everywhere, human waste, trash, debris, rusty weapons — all of it just left behind,” Seggos said.
“You couldn’t see it and not think that every single home that had been damaged was a war crime,” said Seggos of buildings like this destroyed apartment building he photogrphed in Kharkiv.
“Thousands and thousands of homes … are simply gone,” Seggos said.
Trash from a Russian soldier’s meal is left behind in Chernihiv, Ukraine on April 13, 2022. Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Heaps of garbage are seen at an administrative building that had been occupied by Russian forces. Associated PressThe sheer scale of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine shocked Seggos, who traveled to Haiti in 2010 the aftermath of its catastrophic earthquake and saw the destruction left behind by Superstorm Sandy in 2012.
“I don’t think one can prepare to see the impacts of war and the intentional infliction of damage across thousands and thousands of homes and businesses,” he said. “The execution of it was brutal and vast — and beyond anything I think that people are aware of.”
Seggos tried to leave his job at home and focus on the humanitarian effort, but found it impossible not to notice the environmental impact of Putin’s war machine, including huge amounts of waste, unexploded ordnances, burnt military vehicles, oil slicks and decimated power grids.
“I think the damage of the environment was part of the intent — to shell the landscape, to shell the infrastructure and basically make it uninhabitable,” Seggos continued. “And it appears to be what Putin has been doing by taking a buzzsaw to the nation itself.”
Among the individuals Seggos met on the front lines: A TDF soldier and his cat mascot.
But Seggos said he was deeply moved by Ukraine’s youth, including teens he saw welding stoves out of 55-gallon drums to send to soldiers on the frontlines, as well as nine-hour candles made from paraffin wax.
“These kids couldn’t have been older than 17,” Seggos said. “It was just a really inspiring experience: How a country can come together like that and be so resilient, so tough.”
Ukraine Friends, meanwhile, hopes to hit 100 donated ambulances by the end of the year, CEO Brock Bierman said. Since the start of the war, the group has also housed more than 10,000 refugees and evacuated 30,000-plus Ukrainians.
Bierman, who accompanied Seggos on the trip, is planning on returning to Ukraine in November to donate more ambulances obtained by the group through European countries including Germany, France, Poland and Italy.
“It’s always very intense, but safety is our No. 1 priority,” Bierman told The Post. “We do situational awareness 24/7 and we’re always in contact with authorities to make sure that every single step of the way has alternative actions we can take to protect our team.”
The DEC chief also helped Ukraine Friends complete a playground in Katyuzhanka.
“Don’t look away from what’s happening in Ukraine,” Seggos, now back in Albany, NY, said. Bloomberg via Getty ImagesSeggos, an Army Reserve veteran, said he wasn’t armed in Ukraine, but felt safe while being escorted by Territorial Defense Forces during the eye-opening journey.
“Don’t look away from what’s happening in Ukraine,” he implored. “We’re a connected world. What’s happening in Ukraine has major implications for us in the US and in New York. It’s important for us to realize there’s a real fight underway for the future of democracy.”
