Environmental Consequences of War: What Are the Ecological and Geographic Consequences of Military Activities in Ukraine's Industrial and Agricultural Regions, particularly in the Donbas and Southern Steppe Zones?

Abstract As of September 2025, the Russia-Ukraine war has dramatically changed the ecological and geographical character of the Donbas and southern steppe regions of Ukraine leading to tragic results. The ecological consequences of these zones are extensive pollution mainly caused by industrial leaks, large-scale flooding of mines releasing powerful toxins into the groundwaters and pollution arising from weaponry. These ecological stresses have resulted in severe degradation of soils and waters, grave losses in biodiversity and ecological chaos, especially in such protected zones as Chalk Flora and marine systems in the Black Sea. From the geographical point of view, military actions have dramatically altered the geography of regions. In Donbas for instance there are over 30,000 craters from ‘bombturbation’ and there are extensive fortifications and mine pollution over 174,000 km2 making large portions of land unsuitable for farming and rebuilding after the war. In the southern steppe zones the flooding of the Kakhovka dam led to the flooding of 19.9 billion m3 of polluted waters, resulting in mass death and destruction of fish and mussel life and serious breakdown of irrigation systems. All these changes to geography of the regions, notably the destruction of 1.24 million hectares of protected areas, the incapacitation of 25-30 % of farming land directly interfere with food safety and lead to serious international humanitarian concerns for the 47 million affected people. The long-term rehabilitation of these areas will be severely hampered by damages estimated at greater than 85 billion dollars. Continuing groundwater pollution in Donbas and the effects of destruction of agriculture and desertification in the southern steppe regions will further compound the effects of any action being taken. This cumulative effect leads to the necessity for international co-operation to find remedial measures for pollution, technologies for ecological re-establishment and for rebuilding after the war. This paper seeks to access and discuss the existing literature on the subject namely the Ecological and Geographical Effects of War on the Industrial and Agricultural Townons of Ukraine.