By KYIV. Dec 6 (Interfax-Ukraine) – By November 30, 2022, the Russian invasion had already caused damage to the country’s soils totaling UAH 448.9 billion, the State Environmental Inspectorate of Ukraine (SEI) reported.
At the same time, it is specified that as a result of Russian armed aggression, 809,970 hectares of the country’s soils are littered with waste, remnants of ammunition and destroyed equipment, and 29,180 hectares are contaminated with harmful substances.
"Today, due to the war, hundreds of hectares of Ukraine’s land fund are littered with waste, polluted with harmful substances that are a result of detonation and damage to the structure of the soil cover. These factors lead to damage to agricultural land, the impossibility of sowing and, as a result, the lack of crops on soils that have been damaged as a result of military aggression," the inspectorate said in a statement.
It also referred to the data of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), according to which, even before the start of the war, 20% of agricultural land in Ukraine had undergone significant degradation, and their level of plowing reached 53% and was one of the highest in the world. For comparison, in Poland this figure is 36.5%, in Germany – 34.1%, in the USA – 17.5%, and in China – 12%.
"The destruction of Ukrainian lands is a crime against the environment of Ukraine and a global problem that carries the risks of a food crisis and the impossibility of ensuring food security for humanity in the future. The enemy must bear full responsibility for crimes against humanity and the environment," the inspectorate emphasized.
