60% of the land has burned on the Kinburn spit

Fires on the Kinburn Spit. Photo «Ukrinform»

Since the beginning of the occupation of the peninsula, there have been about 180 fires on the Kinburn spit, as a result of which 60% of the land was burned.

Oleh Derkach, the head of the Mykolaiv branch of the National Ecological Center of Ukraine, told about this in an interview with Ukrinform.

«There have never been fires of such a scale on Kinburn in its entire history. Huge areas are affected by the fire, 60% of the land in the National Park has burned. Areas in the area of the Volyzhyn forest caught fire several times. This unique natural corner has been preserved since Hileia, a huge ancient forest massif that dominated the lower reaches of the Dnieper in ancient times. A 500-year-old oak tree grows here, the oldest in the Mykolaiv region,» he said.

According to Oleh Derkach, the situation is also complicated by the fact that since the beginning of the occupation, the Russians looted all the property of the reserves, including fire-fighting equipment.

If we talk specifically about the Mykolaiv part of the Kinburn spit, then according to Yevhen Kasianov, a scientific employee of the «Biloberezhzhia Sviatoslava» NPP, the area of fires was more than 7,214 hectares.

Of them, 6,347 hectares are in the Biloberezhzhia Sviatoslava National Park, almost 152 hectares are in the Black Sea Biosphere Reserve (Volyzhyn forest), and 715 hectares are in the Kinburn Spit National Park. Repeated fires have been recorded on 450-500 hectares, the scientist said.

What's happening at Kinbourn?

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.

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

• 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.

Currently, the Defense Forces of Ukraine continue combat operations against the occupiers there. In particular, the Ukrainian defenders struck the area of concentration of Russian manpower, weapons and equipment on the spit, and also destroyed the Russian invaders and enemy equipment there

Vitaliy Kim, the head of Mykolayiv 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 cases of human casualties. This is stated in the NikVesti article «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 are under threat because of the fires in Kinburn, reported the ombudsman Liudmila Denisova.

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

Currently, according to preliminary estimates of the Ukrainian authorities , about 200 people live on the occupied Kinburn Peninsula, but contact with them has been completely lost.

Major General of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Dmytro Marchenko stated that the temporarily occupied Kinburn spit in the Mykolaiv Region is currently included in the complex of offensive actions.