There have been 253 fires on the Kinburn spit since the beginning of the war

Satellite images of the Kinburn Spit fire, May 2022

On the Kinburn spit, which is under temporary occupation, 253 fires have already been recorded since the beginning of the full-scale war.

The head of the Department of Ecology and Natural Resources of the Mykolaiv Regional Military Administration, Oleksandra Yefimenko, announced this at a briefing on Wednesday, July 10, NikVesti reports.

The total area of land affected by fires is 7,166,000 hectares, and some areas burned twice, and sometimes three times. Scientists conduct remote monitoring of fires on the Kinburn Spit, but due to active fighting, it is currently impossible to accurately assess the scale of environmental damage.

Photo: a herd of wild horses on the Kinburn Spit

Photo: a herd of wild horses on the Kinburn Spit

A field of wild red orchids at Kinburn. Photo: from open sources

A field of wild red orchids at Kinburn. Photo: from open sources

«The Kinburn Peninsula is under temporary occupation, unfortunately, where the National Nature Park «Bilobezhzhia Sviatoslav», the regional landscape park Kinburn Spit and parts of the Black Sea Biosphere Reserve are located. Scientists are conducting remote monitoring of the Kinburn fires. At the beginning of the war, as of June 17, 2024, 253 fires were recorded on the territory of the National Nature Park. 7,166,000 hectares of land were affected by the fire. Sometimes these fires were repeated, and in some areas already for the third time. It is currently impossible to calculate the exact damage caused to the environment due to hostilities,» Oleksandra Yefimenko said.

What's happening at Kinburn?

Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation into Ukraine, the territory of the Kinburn Spit has been occupied by the Russian military. Actually, from there, the Russians have been shelling Ochakiv and Kutsurub communities of the Mykolaiv region for more than a year.

Until now, only three settlements located on the territory of the Kinburn spit remain occupied in the Mykolaiv region. These are the following settlements:

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• the village of Vasylivka. Before the full-scale war, the population was 382;

• the village of Pokrovka. Before the full-scale war, the population was 229;

• the village of Pokrovske. Before the full-scale war, the population was 177 people.

Vitalii Kim, the head of Mykolaiv RMA, said that the release of the Kinburn spit is a matter of time, «and not a very long one.» This was also confirmed by the speaker of the Defense Forces of the South, Nataliia Humeniuk.

At the same time, the Russian occupiers continue to shell and mine the protected territory of the Kinburn Peninsula. Almost daily, wild animals are blown up by landmines there, and there are also cases of human casualties. This is stated in the article NikVesti «On the verge of destruction: How the protected Kinburn spit suffers from the actions of the occupiers».

During the entire period of occupation, the forests on the Kinburn spit occasionally burned. The situation is usually complicated by the fact that the Russian occupiers did not allow rescuers to put out the fire, so fires can last for weeks. At the same time, as noted in RMA, Mykolaiv Oblast cannot help extinguish fires there, as all fire departments and equipment that can get there are located in the occupied territories of Kherson Oblast.

The red book orchids, other unique plants and animals were under threat because of the fires in Kinburn, reported the ombudsman Liudmyla Denisova.

After the deoccupation, the Kinburn spit will need time to restore nature on its own, reported in «Biloberezhzhia Sviatoslav». This will take place during the period while demining of the protected area continues.