More than 9.7 thousand hectares of valuable land have been affected by fires on the Kinburn Spit

Kinburn Spit from above

From the beginning of the war to February 2025, 426 fires were recorded on the Kinburn Spit.

As reported by the National Nature Park «Biloberezhzhia Sviatoslava», more than 9739.12 hectares of particularly valuable land have been affected by the fire.

Of these, the area affected by fires of forest crops, natural forests and shrubs is 3,596.03 hectares.

The data is based on the analysis of information from Sentinel 2, Landsat 8, 9, MODIS Aqua, Modis Terra, VIIRS NOAA 20, VIIRS NOAA 21, VIIRS Suomi SNPP satellites conducted by the National Nature Park scientists.

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As a reminder, 5.5 million tonnes of pollutants were released into the atmosphere due to the fires caused by the military operations on the Kinburn Spit in 2022-2023.

At the same time, the Russian occupiers continue to shell and mine the protected area of the Kinburn Peninsula. Almost every day, wild animals are killed by mines there, and there are cases of human casualties. This is described in the article NikVesti «On the brink of destruction: How the protected Kinburn Spit is suffering from the actions of the occupiers»

Throughout the occupation, forests have been burning on the Kinburn Spit from time to time. The situation is usually complicated by the fact that the Russian occupiers did not allow rescuers to extinguish the fire, so fires can last for weeks. At the same time, as noted in the OVA, Mykolaiv region cannot help extinguish the fires there, as all fire stations and equipment that can reach there are located in the occupied territories of Kherson region.

Red Book orchids and other unique plants and animals are under threat because of the fires on Kinburn, Ombudsman Liudmyla Denisova said.

After the de-occupation, the Kinburn Spit will need time to restore nature on its own, according to «Biloberezhzhia Sviatoslava». This will happen while the demining of the protected area continues.