War in Ukraine / PDFEnvironmental and Public Health Consequences of the War in Ukraine, 2014–present / full-scale phase since 2022Pre-conference analytical brief
Purpose of this briefThis brief provides a neutral environmental and public-health context for the war in Ukraine. It is intended for conference participants who need a shared factual background before discussing war-related pollution, soils, freshwater systems, industrial hazards, explosive remnants of war, disease risks and long-term recovery. It does not provide a political or legal assessment of the war. The accompanying neutral background note on the war in Ukraine explains the chronology, main actors and conflict geography; this brief adds the environmental-health layer.
1. Conflict and exposure settingFor the purposes of this conference, the war in Ukraine should be understood as a long-running armed conflict that began in spring 2014 with the seizure and declared annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation and the outbreak of armed conflict in Donetsk and Luhansk. The conflict escalated dramatically on 24 February 2022, when Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.This chronology matters for environmental-health analysis. The environmental consequences did not begin only in 2022. The earlier phase in Donbas had already produced front-line damage, displacement, water-system disruption, mine contamination, industrial risks and institutional fragmentation. The full-scale invasion expanded these risks across a much larger territory, adding nationwide attacks on energy, water, transport, health, housing and industrial infrastructure.Ukraine is a particularly complex case because the war affects highly urbanized areas, heavy industry, mining regions, nuclear facilities, major river systems, agricultural land, ports, forests, reservoirs, irrigation networks and densely populated cities. The environmental-health consequences are therefore not limited to one type of damage. They include soil contamination, water-system disruption, industrial pollution, explosive remnants of war, nuclear safety risks, agricultural losses, displacement, health-system disruption and mental-health trauma.
2. Main environmental pathwaysThe war affects the environment through several interacting pathways:• shelling, missile strikes, drone attacks, trench systems, fires and craters;• destruction of housing, schools, hospitals, roads, bridges, railways, ports and energy infrastructure;• damage to water-treatment plants, pumping stations, reservoirs, canals, dams and wastewater systems;• pollution from destroyed vehicles, fuel depots, ammunition, metal fragments, batteries and military debris;• damage to industrial sites, chemical facilities, mines, warehouses and waste-storage areas;• flooding or abandonment of mines and industrial sites, especially in eastern Ukraine;• destruction of agricultural machinery, irrigation systems, storage facilities and export routes;• widespread landmine and unexploded ordnance contamination;• debris and dust exposure in heavily damaged cities;• long-term institutional pressure on environmental monitoring, public health, demining and reconstruction.UNEP’s preliminary review of the environmental impact of the conflict in Ukraine describes the country as facing a compounded and multidimensional environmental crisis. This is an important formulation because Ukraine had significant pre-war industrial and environmental legacies, especially in Donbas, and the war has both intensified old risks and created new ones.
3. Soil, agriculture and explosive remnants of warSoil systems are affected by shell craters, trenches, destroyed buildings, burned vehicles, metal fragments, ammunition residues, fuel spills, heavy metals, unexploded ordnance and reduced access to ordinary agricultural management. In some areas, the soil is damaged physically by military engineering and explosions; in others, the main problem is that land cannot be safely used.Explosive ordnance contamination is one of the defining environmental-health problems of the war. UNDP has described Ukraine as the most mined country in the world, with potentially 23 percent of its land at risk of contamination by landmines and unexploded ordnance. This affects civilians, farmers, emergency workers, children, repair crews, reconstruction workers and returning displaced people.For agriculture, the consequences are both immediate and long-term. Mines and unexploded ordnance can prevent sowing, harvesting, grazing, irrigation repair and safe movement. ACAPS reported that, as of April 2023, conflict-related contamination affected around 10 percent of agricultural land and prevented the sowing of millions of hectares. This means that explosive contamination is not only a security issue. It is also a food-system, economic and public-health issue.
4. Freshwater systems, wastewater and the Dnipro basinFreshwater systems are central to the environmental-health profile of the Ukraine war. Damage to electricity, dams, reservoirs, pumping stations, water-treatment plants, wastewater facilities, canals and industrial infrastructure can interrupt safe water supply and sanitation far from the actual strike site.Important water-related systems include:• the Dnipro River basin;• the Siverskyi Donets basin;• water systems serving Donetsk and Luhansk;• the Kakhovka Reservoir and southern irrigation networks;• municipal water and wastewater systems in front-line cities;• water supply for industry, agriculture and nuclear safety.The destruction of the Kakhovka Dam on 6 June 2023 became one of the most significant environmental and water-system events of the war. UNEP’s rapid environmental assessment concluded that much of the damage was irreversible and that the breach created likely long-term impacts on ecosystems and human health. The disaster caused downstream flooding, loss of reservoir water, disruption of irrigation and drinking-water supply, exposure of sediments, fish mortality, habitat destruction and long-term uncertainty about contamination and recovery.The Kakhovka case is important for conference discussion because it combines several themes at once: freshwater disruption, sediment exposure, agricultural collapse, ecosystem transformation, public-health risk, emergency response under war conditions and limited access for independent monitoring.
5. Industrial, mining and chemical risksUkraine’s war is occurring in a country with major industrial, mining, metallurgical, chemical, energy and waste-management infrastructure. This creates a specific type of war-related environmental risk. Shelling or abandonment of industrial sites can release pollutants directly, but environmental risk may also arise when power, pumping, maintenance or monitoring systems stop functioning.The Donbas region is especially important because of its concentration of coal mines, heavy industry, metallurgical plants, chemical facilities and water-management systems. Flooded or abandoned mines can affect groundwater chemistry, while damaged industrial sites can create localized contamination by hydrocarbons, heavy metals, acids, salts and other hazardous materials.However, this case requires careful wording. The evidence is strong that industrial and mining risks exist and that many facilities have been damaged or disrupted. Precise claims about specific pollutants, concentrations and exposure levels require site-level sampling and verification. Speakers should distinguish between documented damage, plausible contamination pathways and measured toxic exposure.
6. Energy infrastructure as a public-health systemThe war in Ukraine shows that energy infrastructure is also public-health infrastructure. Repeated attacks on the electricity grid affect water pumping, wastewater treatment, hospital operations, refrigeration of medicines, heating, elevators, telecommunications, food storage, industrial safety and emergency response.This is particularly important in winter. Loss of electricity and heating can increase risks for older people, infants, people with chronic illness, displaced people and residents of damaged housing. Energy attacks may therefore produce health consequences even when they do not directly strike hospitals or water facilities.The World Bank, Government of Ukraine, European Commission and United Nations RDNA5 assessment estimated Ukraine’s recovery and reconstruction needs at about USD 587.7 billion over ten years. The assessment emphasizes the scale of damage to systems essential for economic recovery and social well-being. For this conference, the key point is that reconstruction is not only a building program. It is also a public-health, water, environmental safety and exposure-reduction program.
7. Health-system disruption and public healthThe war has affected public health through direct trauma, displacement, interrupted care, attacks on health facilities, damaged ambulances, loss of electricity and water, supply-chain disruption, mental-health trauma, rehabilitation needs and chronic disease treatment gaps.WHO has documented repeated attacks on health care in Ukraine and has identified emergency and trauma care, life-preserving health services, mental-health support, rehabilitation, vaccination and continuity of essential services as central response priorities. Health services have had to operate under conditions of bombardment, blackouts, staff displacement, damaged infrastructure and increased demand.The main public-health consequences include:• deaths and injuries from shelling, missiles, drones, mines and unexploded ordnance;• interruption of emergency care and surgery;• increased rehabilitation needs after amputations, burns and blast injuries;• maternal and child health risks;• reduced access to vaccination and routine care;• treatment gaps for cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, HIV, tuberculosis and kidney disease;• mental-health trauma, grief, anxiety and post-traumatic stress;• increased exposure to cold, poor housing, unsafe water and poor sanitation;• higher risks for older persons, persons with disabilities and people living near the front line.The public-health burden is therefore not limited to battlefield casualties. It includes indirect mortality and morbidity caused by infrastructure breakdown, displacement, exposure, interrupted care and long-term stress.
8. Nuclear safety and radiological riskThe Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant is one of the most important nuclear-safety concerns of the war. It is Europe’s largest nuclear power plant and has been under Russian control since 2022 while located near the front line. The International Atomic Energy Agency has repeatedly warned about risks related to shelling, drones, mines, staffing conditions, loss of off-site power and the need for reliable cooling systems.Even without a major radiological release, this situation has important public-health consequences. It creates emergency-planning burdens, evacuation uncertainty, stress, risk communication challenges, technical vulnerability and long-term public concern. Nuclear safety in Ukraine should therefore be discussed not only as a potential catastrophic event, but also as a continuing infrastructure and governance problem during war.
9. Urban destruction, debris and hazardous materialsCities such as Mariupol, Kharkiv, Bakhmut, Avdiivka, Severodonetsk, Lysychansk and many smaller communities have experienced severe destruction. Urban warfare creates a specific environmental-health profile: rubble, dust, damaged asbestos-containing materials, broken sewage systems, destroyed vehicles, fuel residues, fires, damaged heating networks, unexploded ordnance, contaminated debris and unmanaged waste.Debris management will be one of the major reconstruction challenges. In heavily damaged urban areas, environmental recovery and public-health recovery cannot be separated. Rubble clearance, waste sorting, hazardous-material identification, water and sewage repair, demining and safe reconstruction all need to be planned together.
10. Displacement, housing and exposureThe war has caused one of Europe’s largest displacement crises since the Second World War. Displaced people face health risks linked to loss of housing, crowding, income loss, interrupted care, trauma, documentation problems, reduced access to schools and repeated evacuation.Displacement also changes environmental exposure. People move into shelters, collective centres, damaged homes, host communities or temporary accommodation. These settings may have limited heating, ventilation, water, sanitation or access to medical care. Older persons, people with disabilities, women-headed households, children and people with chronic diseases are especially vulnerable.For conference discussion, displacement should not be treated only as a demographic outcome. It is also an exposure pathway: it changes where people live, what water they use, what air they breathe, what services they can reach and how long they remain exposed to insecurity.
11. Mental health, trauma and long-term disease burdenMental health is a major public-health consequence of the war. People have experienced bombardment, occupation, forced displacement, family separation, bereavement, detention, torture, sexual violence, loss of home, economic collapse and repeated uncertainty. Children have experienced school disruption, shelter life, loss of routine and chronic fear.Mental-health consequences interact with physical health. Trauma can worsen cardiovascular disease, substance use, sleep disorders, depression, anxiety, chronic pain and disability outcomes. Mental-health services, psychosocial support and community recovery should therefore be treated as part of the public-health response, not as an optional supplement.
12. Data limitationsUkraine is a comparatively well-documented war, but major data gaps remain. Occupied territories, active front-line zones, mined areas, damaged industrial sites and areas affected by the Kakhovka Dam destruction are difficult to assess. Sampling may be impossible or dangerous. Some environmental effects will only become visible over time.Researchers and speakers should distinguish between:• documented infrastructure damage;• documented health-system disruption;• documented mine and ERW contamination;• plausible but unmeasured industrial or chemical contamination;• acute health impacts;• delayed public-health consequences;• remote-sensing observations;• site-level environmental sampling;• humanitarian estimates and peer-reviewed findings.The most cautious formulation is that the war has produced severe environmental-health risks through infrastructure destruction, explosive contamination, water-system disruption, industrial and mining hazards, agricultural losses, displacement, health-system disruption and likely localized toxic contamination. Specific claims about pollutant concentrations require verified site-level data.
13. Relevance for conference discussionThe war in Ukraine is highly relevant for comparative discussion because it combines several types of war-related environmental-health damage:• long-running conflict since 2014 and full-scale escalation since 2022;• industrial and mining risks in Donbas;• large-scale explosive ordnance contamination;• agricultural land denial and food-system disruption;• freshwater-system damage, especially in the Dnipro and Siverskyi Donets basins;• the Kakhovka Dam disaster;• nuclear-safety risks at Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant;• repeated attacks on energy infrastructure;• urban destruction and debris-management challenges;• displacement, trauma and health-system pressure;• complex reconstruction needs across housing, water, energy, health and environment.The central analytical lesson is that modern war damages environmental health through connected systems. Soil, water, energy, health care, industry, agriculture, housing, transport and governance cannot be separated. When one system fails, others become exposure pathways.