Ukraine War Environmental Damage Will Take Years to Clean Up

“I have no other choice. I don’t have the money to buy a bottle,” Iryna Stetcenko told the Associated Press. Her family has diarrhea and she worries about the health of her two teenagers.

The government took water samples in May, but the results have not been made public, said Vyacheslav Muga, former head of the municipal water department. Kyiv’s food safety and consumer protection agency has not yet responded to his AP’s request for results.

But reports by other environmental groups show the effects of war.

In recent weeks, Russia has targeted critical infrastructure such as power plants and water supplies. But even in July, United Nations environmental officials warned that water infrastructure, including pumping stations, water treatment plants and sewage systems, had been severely damaged.

A forthcoming paper by British charities Conflict and Environment Observatory and the Zoi Environment Network shows evidence of contamination in ponds after a Russian missile struck a fuel depot in the town of Kalynivka, about 30 kilometers southwest. Found. of Kyiv.

High concentrations of fuel oil and dead fish were found on the surface of the pond, which is used not only for fish farms but also for recreation.

Nitrogen dioxide released by burning fossil fuels is in the west and southwest of Kyiv, according to an April report from REACH, a humanitarian research initiative that tracks information in areas affected by crises, disasters and displacement. increased in the region. Direct exposure can cause skin irritation and burns, while chronic exposure can cause respiratory illness and harm plants, the report said.

The agricultural sector, an important part of the Ukrainian economy, has also been affected. According to Serhiy Zibtsev, professor of forestry at the National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine, the fires damaged crops and livestock, burned thousands of hectares of forest, and prevented farmers from finishing their harvest.

“The fire is very large,” he said, adding that farmers “lost everything they had harvested for the winter.”

The Kyiv government is helping as much as possible.

In Demidykh and surrounding villages, flood victims were paid the equivalent of $540 each, said Lilia Kalashnikovel, deputy mayor of the nearby town of Daimar. She said the government will do everything it can to prevent long-term environmental impacts, but she declined to say how.

Governments have an obligation to minimize environmental risks, especially during war, said Doug Weir, research and policy director at the Conflict and Environmental Observatory, a UK-based monitoring organization.

Some Ukrainians have already lost hope.

“I feel depressed. There is water around and under the house,” said Tatiana Samoylenko, a resident of Demidykh.