Understanding Explosive Contamination in Ukraine - 2023
This is an updated version of an article which was originally published on June 23, 2022. This new version incorporates updated statistics of explosive contamination, imagery collected in the past year of Russia’s war on Ukraine, and new resources and information. You can read the original article, along with interactive map and AR content, here: Understanding Explosive Contamination in Ukraine (arcgis.com)
Scope and History
In February of 2022, Russia launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine. The protracted fighting has resulted in nearly unprecedented levels of explosive contamination in the form of landmines, cluster munitions, artillery, aerial bombs, guided missiles, improvised and modified munitions, and much more. Our own Manual on Basic Identification of Ammunition in Ukraine identifies well over 500 different types of ordnance items in Ukraine as of this summer, and thousands upon thousands of each of these items currently contaminate Ukraine. Not only do the diversity and volume of explosive munitions in Ukraine complicate clearance and demining activities, but the sheer scale of the war has contaminated vast areas which have stretched demining and clearance teams to their limits.
Clearance teams work in areas like this forest near Bucha, carefully combing through battle damage and craters to find explosive hazards. Photo by Bomb Techs Without Borders
Thousands of munitions are collected and prepared for disposal at sites around Ukraine. Photo by Bomb Techs Without Borders
Historically, since 2014, most explosive contamination in Ukraine was concentrated in the east of the country along the previously known “Line of Contact” running roughly through the middle of the Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts. There were also occasional findings of explosive ordnance from World War II. However, since the Russian invasion in 2022 this contamination has expanded across the country and to highly populated cities including Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Severodonetsk, Kherson, Mariupol, and many others.
On May 26, 2022—only a few months into the war—remarks released by Karen Chandler of the United States Department of State noted that approximately 80,000 square kilometers of land in Ukraine were contaminated with explosive hazards. This area accounts for approximately 13 percent of Ukraine’s total territory and about 10 percent of the farmland in Ukraine.
By April of 2023, the State Emergency Services of Ukraine estimated that 174,000 square kilometers were contaminated by explosive hazards—approximately one third of Ukraine’s total territory. Data representing reports of explosive events from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project’s (ACLED) Ukraine Conflict Monitor offers some insight into the depth and breadth of contamination in Ukraine.
A snapshot of ACLED’s Interactive Dashboard from their Ukraine Conflict Monitor Project, showing reports of explosions, battles, and violence against civilians as of 08 September 2023. Ukraine Conflict Monitor (acleddata.com)
Impacts of Explosive Hazards in Ukraine
Displaced People
The areas around Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Severodonetsk, and along the southern portion of the Dnipro River are some of the most densely populated areas of Ukraine. Due to hostilities, the UNHCR estimates "(s)ome 7 million people have been displaced internally within Ukraine and some 13 million people are estimated to be stranded in affected areas or unable to leave due to heightened security risks, destruction of bridges and roads, as well as lack of resources or information on where to find safety and accommodation." This issue is exasperated due to the explosive contamination left in these densely populated areas which limit economic activities, freedom of movement, and the ability of the 7 million internally displaced Ukrainians to return home.
A destroyed apartment building in Borodyanka. Photo by The New York Times.
Residential buildings in villages outside Kyiv were damaged in artillery bombardments. Photo by Bomb Techs Without Borders
An artillery round struck a public street in Kharkiv near a playground, where investigators are gathered to determine its origin. Photo by Bomb Techs Without Borders.
Agriculture
Ukraine is well known as one of the world’s top producers and exporters of staple grains and related agricultural products. According to the USDA, in 2021 Ukraine was the world’s top exporter in sunflower oil, the third largest in barley and rapeseed, the fourth largest in corn, and the fifth largest in wheat. The top importers of wheat from Ukraine were mainly in North Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Africa, and Southeast Asia. However, these resources are not inexhaustible or immune from damage. Many of these agricultural products were made on land that has been ravaged by the Russian invasion and by people who have been displaced.
Agricultural production in Ukraine has been significantly impacted by the Russian invasion and resulting explosive contamination. This is doubly impacted by the internal displacement and restricted movement of Ukrainians due to the fighting in the aforementioned regions. In these regions, the most planted crops are barley, sunflowers, and wheat. It was estimated that 41% of barley, 56% of sunflowers, and 50% of wheat were not harvested in 2022 due to the threat of unexploded ordnance and landmines as well as the restricted movement of people.
Many Ukrainian farmers are unable to return to their lands to conduct planting or other work, further compounding the loss of agricultural production capacity. Damaged facilities and destroyed farm equipment will also hamper recovery efforts. Many farm fields are now battlegrounds, pockmarked with artillery craters, unexploded ordnance, and landmines which will prevent safe planting and harvesting for some time. This will present ongoing challenges to Ukraine for production that is important both for local markets and global exports.
Imagery captured by Maxar Technologies has revealed widespread damage to agricultural lands in Ukraine. Viewing one location captured in Google Earth imagery from 2021 to Maxar Technologies imagery from 2022 shows the incredible impact of artillery bombardments to farmland.
Fields near Bakhmut captured on Google Earth in 2021
The same fields shown in Maxar Technologies imagery in 2022
Time, Money, and Resources
Prior to the full-scale invasion by Russian forces, demining efforts in Ukraine "cleared 3.4 square kilometers in the Donbas region since 2017 at a cost of $23.6 million" according to Karen Chandler. Landmine and unexploded ordnance clearance in other countries around the world typically takes decades and hundreds of millions—often billions—of dollars. The contamination in Ukraine, expanding in scale and complexity every day, is significantly vaster than anything seen in several generations.
The 174,000 square kilometers of land currently estimated to require some form of explosive hazard clearance represents a nearly incalculable cost in time, money, resources, and people. An unprecedented effort will be required to make the land safe again and restore the agricultural stability Ukraine has historically offered much of the world.