Satellite-based technology assessing Ukraine’s ecology under the war

Abstract

The Donbas is a region dominated by heavy industry, particularly coal mining, chemical processing sites and metallurgy. Intensive mining and steel smelting led to substantial environmental damage before the armed conflict. The fighting in eastern Ukraine has exacerbated an already fragile ecological situation, introducing a range of new risks – of stray munitions hitting extensive chemical and industrial facilities or interconnected mines being flooded and poisoning the water throughout the region. Besides, one of the main hazards is flooding territories associated with closing coal mines. Assessment impacts of uncontrolled mine flooding and towns and villages and associated hazardous processes of surface and groundwater contamination, surface subsidence and dangerous deformations of residential and industrial buildings and other facilities carried out the remote sensing and geological data.