Russia has caused ₴1.26T in damage to Ukraine’s ecosystems. Among them are losses to land resources amounting to ₴400B, of which more than ₴2B are the consequences of soil pollution. It will take almost 30 years to restore the fertile soil layer completely.
The Institute of Nanotechnologies and Organic Products said that in Ukraine nearly 150,000 square kilometers of land are polluted by military operations. Soil rehabilitation at shelling sites requires demining and cleaning of other chemical residues. Soil restoration technologies are expensive, but the institute is developing solutions that make this process ₴500-1,000 cheaper per hectare by using natural products instead of chemical fertilizers.
Sappers note that it will take up to 10 years to completely clear the territories where active hostilities were conducted for a year. However, to clear the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, where the war has been ongoing since 2014, the process could drag on for 100 years.