A serviceman from an all-volunteer unit in southeastern Ukraine, on April 27, 2024. (Ukrinform / NurPhoto via Getty Images) Imagine two scales. The first one is a timeline of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, with its war crimes, destruction, and lives lost. The second scale is that of climate change, as measured and analyzed by climate scientists around the world. This includes, of course, Ukrainian and Russian climatologists. It’s now three years since Russia’s full-scale invasion. Since September 2022, the Russian army has been striking Ukrainian energy infrastructure facilities with missiles and kamikaze drones (“Shaheds” and “Lancets”). KABs (precision-guided aerial bombs) and FABs (high-explosive aerial bombs) are also used. FPV drones dropping shells on the enemy have been a popular weapon at the front. Ukraine has become a testing ground for a variety of military drones. The number of so-called prilyots — or hits on energy infrastructure, schools, hospitals, and residential buildings — is constantly growing. Ukrainian media publish schedules of power cuts. On the second timescale, measuring climate change, 2024 was another significant marker. According to the World Meteorological Organization, 2024 was the hottest year on record, 1.55 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels — breaking the limit set by the Paris Agreement. The previous record-hot year was the one before that, 2023. Summer 2024 was particularly hot. Temperatures in Central and Southern Europe in July held up above 40 degrees Celsius for several days and in some areas for more than a week. The heat wave also hit both warring countries. The two event scales crossed directly at the front line. “Outside, on the [tank’s] armor, the temperature is so high that you can roast meat. We usually line it with camping mats, aka karemats . They partially stick to the metal [. . .] equipment also fails […]