The impact of Russia’s war against Ukraine on the state of country’s soil: Analysis results

Since 2014, Russia’s war against Ukraine has dramatically disrupted the soil environment and caused large-scale and long-term environmental degradation. The full-scale invasion since 24 February 2022 has further aggravated the problem of soil degradation and had a significant impact on productivity.

This drastic change of landscape requires an immediate and comprehensive study, followed by the development of policies for the management of lands contaminated by war. Failure to act on the identified problem risks causing accelerated soil erosion, adversely affecting production, spreading toxic and contaminated agricultural or other products, and harming human health.

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Since 2014, Russia’s war against Ukraine has dramatically disrupted the soil environment and caused large-scale and long-term environmental degradation. The full-scale invasion since 24 February 2022 has further aggravated the problem of soil degradation and had a significant impact on productivity.

This drastic change of landscape requires an immediate and comprehensive study, followed by the development of policies for the management of lands contaminated by war. Failure to act on the identified problem risks causing accelerated soil erosion, adversely affecting production, spreading toxic and contaminated agricultural or other products, and harming human health.

27/04/2026

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine drove greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) up by 75 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent (tCO2e) in the war’s fourth year, bringing the total since 24 February 2022 to 311 million tCO2e. This large figure is comparable to the annual emissions of France or half of Germany’s yearly emissions. While emissions rose […]

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20/02/2026

The ongoing war in Ukraine has significantly disrupted agricultural land use, leading to reduced cropland areas, increased land abandonment, and heightened uncertainty in food production. This study presents a multi-year assessment of war-induced agricultural land use changes in Ukraine using machine learning-based classification applied to Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 satellite imagery. By leveraging cloud computing platforms, […]

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09/02/2026

The goal of this study is to review publicly available sources and identify the main directions and trends in analytical, investigative, monitoring, scientific, and other research conducted in Ukraine and abroad on the military impact on the environment. It also aims to highlight possible gaps that require further attention from researchers and policymakers. We have […]

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28/01/2026

The ongoing Russian invasion in Ukraine has significantly impacted the forest ecosystems at national scale, including the crucial agroforestry systems in the eastern part of country. This study focuses on estimating the damage caused to forest protective plantations in 2022–2023, with particular focus on the loss of cropland protection function derived by shelterbelts.

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