How Russian attacks poison Ukraine’s environment: Expert reveals horrifying details
Ecologists cannot assess the true extent of pollution: sensors fail to detect most hazardous substances.
Shelling of Ukraine / © TSN
Following massive attacks on Ukraine, critical amounts of toxic substances are released into the air, soil, and water, posing a serious threat to the environment and public health.
This was stated by ecologist Vadim Manyuk, associate professor at the Department of Geography of Oles Honchar Dnipro National University, during a broadcast on the "KYIV24" television channel.
According to him, it is currently impossible to accurately assess the full scale of environmental pollution caused by the war due to a lack of methodologies and, crucially, uncertainty about the specific chemical substances used in the enemy’s weapons: missiles, Shahed drones, and other types of armaments.
“These substances end up in the atmosphere, soil, and water. We don’t even know the full list of all harmful components,” Manyuk noted.
According to the expert, a particular danger lies in the fact that most of these substances do not naturally decompose and can persist in the environment for a long time. They accumulate, creating persistent pollution that worsens with each attack.
No less alarming is the short-term impact — immediately after strikes, the atmosphere in cities, including Kyiv, becomes instantly saturated with toxic substances. This creates a direct risk to human health, especially in densely populated areas.
At the same time, Manyuk pointed out that Ukraine’s existing air quality monitoring systems are unable to adequately respond to new types of pollution.
“The sensors used by the Save Dnipro group cannot detect most hazardous substances. They were designed for peacetime and do not meet the challenges of war,” the expert explained.
He emphasizes that Ukraine urgently needs to modernize its environmental monitoring system, especially in cities regularly subjected to attacks. Without this, it is impossible to promptly detect toxic substances and take measures to protect the population.
Experts are calling on the government and the international community to pay attention to the “invisible front” of the war—the ecological one. Pollution does not disappear immediately after explosions but leaves a long-lasting, often unnoticed, yet dangerous mark on nature and human lives.