IMPACT OF WAR ON AGRICULTURAL LANDSCAPES OF UKRAINE

Abstract

On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, continuing the military aggression that has been ongoing since 2014. The troops of the Russian Federation carry out massive bombing and shelling of Ukrainian cities and villages, unleashed mass terror against the civilian population in the temporarily occupied territories. The movement of heavy equipment, the construction of fortifications, and military operations damage the soil cover. This leads to the degradation of vegetation and increases wind and water erosion. The damaged topography of the fields forms scenes of battle with countless circles and lines from shells and their fragments, as well as from the movement of military weapons. Instead of peaceful agricultural machinery, the tracks and wheels of multi-ton military machinery now wreak havoc on the fields. In addition, Ukrainian fertile fields are polluted by scrap metal from enemy equipment. Both land and air military equipment, of which the Russians have a lot, become toxic waste. Unexploded ammunition and mines polluted about 300 thousand square kilometers - that is half of the territory of Ukraine. Demining on such a scale will take 5-7, or even 10 years. Fields, forests and forest strips are especially dangerous now. Demining works should be carried out as quickly as possible. After all, you need to be in time so that the shells do not get overgrown with grass and subsequently do not sink to the depths. Because then it will be even more difficult to detect and neutralize them. Hits on agricultural land from various weapons cause damage to the soil. In some places, the holes are 4-6 meters deep and several tens of meters in diameter. Agrarians suggest creating natural habitats in these deep pits. This, they are convinced, can become a symbolic healing of war wounds and a powerful strengthening of sustainable modern agricultural production and farming. Now it is difficult to estimate the area of damage: they can vary from 1-2% and in some areas up to 40%. According to KSE, the cost of restoring such lands, including reclamation and leveling, will amount to $39.6 million. Burnt forests and fields. Polluted rivers and soils. Flooded cities and villages. In Ukraine, they are just beginning to calculate the damage to the environment as a result of the full-scale Russian invasion. According to the data of the State Environmental Inspection, as of January 2023, during the 11 months of military aggression of the Russian Federation, the damage to the ecology of Ukraine already amounts to more than 1 trillion 743 billion hryvnias, or more than 47.6 billion dollars. And these are only approximate calculations, while part of the Ukrainian territory still remains occupied.