Soil Degradation and Contamination Due to Armed Conflict in Ukraine

The impact of the active hostilities associated with Russia’s large-scale armed invasion of the territory of Ukraine on soil degradation as a result of military actions has resulted in soil damage due to heavy military armored vehicles. Debris from destroyed military equipment, ammunition, and fuel remnants lead to multi-factor damage to the soil system, causing local and global pollution and losses of soil resources. In all the studied cases, mechanical, chemical, and physical soil degradation were observed. This was manifested in changes in granulometric fractions at explosion sites, burning areas, and locations with heavy-metal contamination. Equipment incineration has resulted in an increase in the sand fraction (2.0–0.05 mm) by 1.2–1.8 times and a decrease in the clay fraction (