Rewilding Ukraine's Danube Delta Amid War

Rewilding Ukraine is a conservation NGO registered in Odessa in 2017, working with Rewilding Europe to restore Europe's largest wetland, the Danube Delta, along with the adjacent Tarutino Steppe. Since Russia's 2022 invasion the team has kept working, restoring roughly 13,500 hectares of wetland and unforested grassland and releasing more than 240 animals of species such as kulan (wild donkeys), red and fallow deer, steppe marmots and eagle owls to revive natural grazing and rebuild the food web. The project has also built breeding platforms for Dalmatian pelicans and, since 2025, brings Ukrainian war veterans and their families into the restored landscape as part of a nature-based recovery programme.