Ammunition vs fertile soils: why Ukraine may lose its status as world's breadbasket

According to the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Russians fire up to 350 artillery rounds of various calibers to destroy one target. Throughout 2022, the Russians fired 40,000-50,000 artillery rounds per day. In addition, there were a huge number of Russian missile strikes, large-scale use of mines and small arms. Ukrainians do not shy away from firing in response either.

"The chemical filling of ammunition has an aggressive impact on the environment. According to the State Emergency Service, up to 40% of Ukraine's territory is mined or contaminated with explosive remnants from the war. These territories require special examination to determine the prospects of their use in [farming]," says Major Vladyslav Dudar, officer of the Main Directorate of Mine Action, Civil Protection and Environmental Safety of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.

hromadske learned from environmental specialists about the threats that unexploded ordnance can pose to Ukrainian soil, as well as the extensive effort and costs that will be required to remediate contaminated land in the aftermath of the war.

The biggest chemical pollutants

There are many explosive mixtures, but the main explosive charge in each of them is TNT and hexogen. They are called secondary explosives (SE) because they cannot be reliably detonated without an external explosive force.

"The explosion of a single 115-mm high-explosive fragmentation munition equipped with hexogen produces about 4,000 liters of gas containing the combustion products of this explosive. Most of them, in particular heavy metals (lead, copper, arsenic, zinc, etc.), settle on the soil," says the report "The Impact of Russia's War Against Ukraine on the State of the Country’s Soil" by the NGO Center for Environmental Initiatives "Ecoaction".

"Even small concentrations of pollutants change the activity of enzymes in the human body, affecting the blood circulation of nuclei and protein synthesis and causing changes at the genetic level," the report says.

Studies conducted in the United States have shown that if a munition explodes according to the proper algorithm, 99% of the explosive burns up and only 1% enters the soil (80% of the explosive burns up in anti-tank munitions). But these figures are typical for new munitions.

"Instead, Russia is using old munitions produced more than 30 years ago against us," notes Major Dudar. "Up to 40% of them either do not explode at all or their explosive mixtures do not burn completely and get into the environment.”

How long can contamination be dangerous

Ukraine can predict this based on the experience of foreigners. For example, the United Kingdom, Poland, Romania, and other European countries have not yet finished clearing their territory of World War II-era munitions, and harmful chemicals are leaking through the rusted hulls of these munitions.

And France has been struggling for over 100 years with the consequences of the pollution its lands suffered during the First World War. The area from Lille to Nancy (along France's border with Belgium and Germany), where the fiercest battles of that war took place, is designated as the Red Zone. There is still such a high level of soil contamination with heavy metals and unexploded ordnance that the area is mothballed and considered unsuitable for living and farming.

Calculations made by the French government showed that simply mothballing the area is more cost-effective than spending money on its cleanup. In general, it will take up to 700 years to completely clear the territory of France of the remnants of the First World War and minimize the impact of the explosive ordnance using current technologies and work rates.

 Start with land classification

"First of all, Ukraine has to conduct an initial assessment of its territory, i.e. determine which land should be preserved, which should be cleaned (and from which pollutants) or re-used, and which does not require any special cleanup measures," says Vladyslav Dudar.

According to the military ecologist, it is not necessary to determine the entire chemical composition of contamination as it is very expensive. It is enough to pay attention to a few of the most common and toxic elements - heavy metals, oil products, etc.

Currently, Ukraine does not have any laboratories to conduct the relevant analyzes, so it will have to use the services of foreign partners. It would be advisable to use portable mass spectrometers, devices that can determine the presence of a chemical and its concentration level.

"With the help of a mass spectrometer, it will be possible to identify land for conservation without preliminary demining, which will save financial resources," says Vladyslav Dudar, "The relevant areas will simply need to be fenced and put under guard.”

Not everything will be demined everywhere?

Soil can only be taken for analysis from a demined area. Today, Ukraine is the most mined country in the world. According to the conclusions of the Slovak NGO GLOBSEC, published by The Washington Post, it will take 757 years to completely clear the territory of Ukraine. This is assuming the work of approximately 500 groups currently operating in Ukraine, as one sapper can clear up to 9 square meters per day.

Ecoaction's experts note that demining destroys soil organic matter, losing its physical and chemical properties and potential fertility. Detonation contaminates the soil with metal fragments and explosive residues.

"Landmine clearance operations are often complex and expensive. As such, in developing countries, these consequences can be interpreted as an absolute loss of soil resources," Ecoaction’s report reads.

Today, there are many examples around the world of mined areas being transformed into protected areas. For example, on the border between Iraq and Iran, former minefields have become a refuge for Persian leopards that have disappeared in other parts of the country, and in Angola, once mined areas are being transformed into African elephant migration routes.

"Over the years, nature will cleanse itself in the mined areas, and new ecosystems will emerge there, just like in the Chornobyl zone," says Oleksiy Vasylyuk, head of the Ukrainian Nature Protection Group NGO. "And what, we will uproot trees and shrubs to search for mines under their roots? It may happen that other states will pay us money to leave the mined areas for natural overgrowth and clean the air over Europe."

How much does soil cleanup cost?

The World Bank estimates that the cost of demining a square meter in Ukraine could be up to $8. According to such forecasts, over the next decade alone, Ukraine will need more than $37 billion for demining measures.

At the same time, measures to restore soil fertility are also expensive. To speed it up, land conservation is used (its procedure is defined in Government Resolution No. 35 of January 19, 2022), as well as land reclamation (recultivation).

A plot is conserved when the level of soil damage exceeds 75%. Then it is withdrawn from economic activity and grass cover or reforestation is restored in the respective areas. The cost of conservation is determined by the price of the site itself and the level of its pollution.

Recultivation means active soil cleanup using technical and biotechnological measures. They are very expensive. The Ecoaction report cites, for example, the following data:

- phytoremediation of soil (i.e., its treatment with plants that reduce the concentration of a pollutant or absorb it): costs from $150 to $250,000 per 1 hectare

- chemical leaching (washing): costs from $30 to $300 per 1 cubic meter of soil;

- chemical oxidation/restoration: costs from $200 to $500 per ton of treated soil, excluding the cost of analytical research;

- waste disposal (burying it underground in specially created excavations, abandoned coal mines, etc.): costs from $1 million per 1 ton.

In reality, there are many more technologies used for land reclamation. However, it is already clear that financing the relevant measures will be a serious problem for the state and private landowners.

Farmers neglect safety

"According to the results of 2021, agriculture contributed the highest percentage to GDP among all sectors of the economy - more than 10%. Agri-food products also account for the largest percentage of Ukraine's total exports - about 41% for the year. We are increasingly claiming the status of one of the largest guarantors of global food security," said Roman Leshchenko, Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, just two weeks before the Russians began their full-scale invasion.

Since then, military operations have been concentrated in the areas that are leading producers of Ukrainian agricultural products. According to the Ukrainian Nature Conservation Group, a third of Ukraine's arable land is still under occupation. This means that after the war is over, this entire territory will need to be cleaned up from the contamination with the secondary explosives.

"Unfortunately, Ukrainian farmers do not care about the condition of their land. We constantly receive information that tractor drivers or combine harvesters trip mines, that shells detonate during agricultural work, etc.," says ecologist Oleksiy Vasylyuk. "That is, demining is either not carried out or carried out negligently. I'm not talking about assessing the condition of the soil and cleaning it. And since agricultural production in the de-occupied territories continues, products of dubious quality are entering the market."

The ecologist is convinced that Ukraine should ban the use of agricultural land in the de-occupied territories until the soil is assessed and chemically analyzed. Otherwise, Ukraine may lose global agricultural markets.