Assessment of the Impact of Armed Aggression of the Rf on the Soil Cover of Ukraine

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to assess the impact of armed aggression by the rf on the soil resources of Ukraine and to develop a map regarding the impact of military actions on the soil cover at different levels of management: the country, region, district, and territorial community. In this study, we used the following main methods: analysis, synthesis, monographic, abstract-logical, and cartographic. The article introduces a new type of soil degradation: degradation caused by armed aggression (military type), which includes the following types: (1) mechanical degradation; (2) physical degradation; (3) chemical degradation; (4) physical and chemical degradation; (5) biological degradation; and (6) other directions of influence on soils and land plots. For the first time, maps have been developed regarding the impact of military actions on the soil cover at different levels of management: Ukraine, oblast, district, and territorial community. Areas of each type of soil affected by military operations and requiring further examination and control have been determined. It was established that as of March 2023, the largest area affected by hostilities is characteristic of chernozem soils: ordinary chernozems (5.0M ha), southern (2.1M ha), typical and podzolized (1.9 million ha), meadow soils and meadow and chernozem (0.2M ha). Considering the area, chernozems were the most affected; in some areas, the soils were destroyed. The practical value of the obtained results is that their application should contribute to the comprehensive assessment of military soil degradation in Ukraine. Spatial specificities of interstate and interregional migrations in the population of Ukraine are defined for the prewar period, the period of russia’s hybrid war against Ukraine (2014–2021), and the full-scale russian-Ukrainian war (beginning on February 24, 2022). The scope and the directions of migrant departures/arrivals are disclosed, as well as their effect on the dynamics of population number in Ukraine and its regions.