Severe war damage to Ukranian forests

Due to Russia’s full-scale military invasion of Ukraine, vast areas in the southern and eastern parts of the country have come under heavy shelling. 

Shells have damaged branches and trunks upon impact and ignited forests when they exploded. 

Satellite images reveals the damages

Using satellite images, Maksym Matsala, researcher at SLU, has been able to track the devastation in the forests. He estimates that 240,000 hectares of forest have now been damaged. In 2022, the affected area was 40,000 hectares, in 2023 it increased to 80,000 hectares, and by 2024 the total has reached 240,000 hectares—an area almost as large as Blekinge. 

In most forests, the damage has not been severe enough to kill the majority of mature trees. However, there are large areas where trees have been swept away or are doomed to die within a few years due to their injuries. The damaged forests contain many fallen trees and dead wood, which pose a significant risk of worsening future wildfires. 

Large fires in 2024

Last year, several large forest fires were caused by shelling and extreme weather conditions, including heat and strong winds. For example, the pine forest planted in the Oleshky Desert to prevent erosion has almost completely disappeared in wildfires. Now, only charred, broken trunks remain. 

"Ukrainian firefighters could only watch as landmines and other ammunition exploded in the heat, making it impossible to extinguish the fires in the forest", says Maksym Matsala.

Forests inaccessable for people

Once peace returns to Ukraine, Maksym Matsala advocates for a change in forestry practices—one that considers the increased risk of wildfires due to the large amounts of highly flammable debris that cannot be cleared because of unexploded ordnance. 

Matsala proposes controlled burns to reduce the amount of wood on the ground that could fuel wildfires. He also wants to see efforts to replant trees, particularly pine, while also experimenting with drought-resistant native deciduous trees. 

"It is not enough to simply clear landmines near villages and plant new forests there."

There is a significant risk that forests in eastern and southern Ukraine will remain inaccessible for berry and mushroom picking for a long time—an important activity for many people in Ukraine. 

"Clearing all the landmines from the forests will take decades", says Maksym Matsala.