A third of Ukraine's territory is uninhabitable due to mines and explosives
Due to past and current wars, up to a third of the territory of Ukraine is contaminated with explosive objects, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
The head of the State Service for Emergency Situations, Nikolai Chechetkin, announced this at a meeting of the State Commission on Technological and Environmental Safety and Emergency Situations, the agency’s website reports.
According to him, the State Emergency Service, in cooperation with international organizations, has compiled an electronic database on the location of explosive objects.
“It has been established that almost 30% of the state’s territory is contaminated with dangerous objects as a result of past wars and Russian aggression. In particular, more than 4 thousand areas have been identified as likely to be contaminated with explosive objects, which is 1 million 146 thousand hectares. The presence of explosive objects has been confirmed on a total area of 453 thousand hectares,” Chechetkin said.
He noted that this issue is particularly acute in the Ukrainian-controlled territories of Donetsk (238 thousand hectares) and Lugansk (197 thousand hectares) regions. In the Odessa region - 42,8 thousand hectares, in the Kyiv region - 30,4 thousand hectares, in the Kharkov region - 18,1 thousand hectares, in the Zhytomyr region - 1,4 thousand hectares, in the Nikolaev region - 1,3 thousand hectares.
With the outbreak of the war in Donbass, minefields, new types of ammunition, booby traps and other dangerous explosive devices, often disguised as everyday items, appeared on the territory of Ukraine.
During the liquidation of the consequences of explosions at ammunition depots near Balakleya, Kalinovka, Svatovo, more than 66 thousand hectares were cleared, 45 thousand explosive objects were neutralized.
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