After the explosion of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant, it became obvious that the occupiers do not take into account the damage they cause to the environment of Ukraine.
However, we should not forget that the war and related environmental problems began in 2014.
The Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security reminds of the environmental problems of Ukraine created by the aggressor even before the full-scale invasion.
Flooding of mines in eastern Ukraine
One of the main problems after Russia unleashed hostilities in eastern Ukraine, with its industrial zone, in particular, chemical enterprises, was the flooding of mines. Many mines in the occupied areas of Luhansk and Donetsk regions have stopped pumping water.
As part of the project of the French humanitarian organization ACTED, as reported by “Radio Svoboda”, 20 samples of groundwater were taken in the city of Toretsk and the surrounding mines – mine water, from wells and from wells. Only two of the twenty samples were close to drinking water standards. At the same time, mine water contained toxic elements whose concentration exceeds the permissible levels even for domestic water. The water and soil analysis was carried out by specialists of the state enterprise “Donetskgeologiia”. They found that further flooding of the mines in the area could lead to, among other things, the release of mine water with high mineralization over an area of 1,400 hectares, which would lead to waterlogging and salinization of the soil, as well as deterioration of groundwater quality.
Among other things, the “Yunyi Komunar” mine was flooded, where an experimental underground nuclear explosion was conducted in 1979. Since 2014, this mine, located near the village of Bunge, has been under Russian occupation. Water drainage was stopped on April 14, 2019, without the consent of the IAEA and the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine (SNRIU). The facility was transferred from dry to wet mothballing.
Radioactivity in mine workings and mine waters during the period of observation in 1979-2000 was at the background level, but the flooding creates new risks. According to the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine, the cessation of water drainage threatens to release artificial radionuclides that may be contained in the capsule: strontium-137, cesium-90, and plutonium-239.
In addition, the release of radioactive liquid into the groundwater threatens to contaminate the Azov Sea ecosystem. The conservation option chosen by the Russian occupation administration is environmentally hazardous, as it can lead to repeated contamination with radionuclides.
Roman Filonenko, Head of the Department for Waste Management and Environmental Safety, told the Center for Strategic Communications that since 2014, Ukraine has been raising the issue of underwater and soil pollution in the OSCE-mediated Trilateral Contact Group for Peaceful Settlement. However, representatives of Russia and the puppet administrations of the so-called “DPR” and “LPR” blocked Ukraine’s attempts to introduce environmental monitoring of the occupied territories under various pretexts, denying access to Ukrainian and international experts.
Only when groundwater flooded the mines of the occupied territories and brought contaminated mineralized water to the territory of the Russian Federation, and water quality in the wells of the Rostov region deteriorated significantly, did the Russians agree to allow international experts to visit. However, after the full-scale invasion began, this issue was put on hold.
Another idea promoted by Ukraine in the Trilateral Contact Group was the creation of a number of “safety islands” around hazardous enterprises. For example, at the Coke Plant, the Donetsk State-Owned Chemical Plant, or the “Stirol” Concern. Experts would have to appear there to conduct an audit, and a more substantial withdrawal of troops would have to be carried out in the area around them to reduce shelling and avoid emergencies. This initiative was also rejected by the Russian side.