The war in Ukraine: the problem of heavy metal contamination of agricultural land and products

In the context of russia’s war against Ukraine, which is the most destructive, bloody and aggressive war in Europe since the Second World War, an extraordinary humanitarian crisis and a large-scale ecosystem disaster have arisen. The environment polluted by the war is a potential source of emission of harmful substances from the soil into food raw materials. This creates a significant threat of food contamination in large areas affected by the war. The work is devoted to the review of scientific literary sources and information bases of documents of the UN, FAO, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine. The purpose of the work: to conduct an analysis of scientific data on the contamination of agricultural soils and the possibility of contamination of plant raw materials and food products in the conditions of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine. Materials and methods: informative, bibliographical, normative and legal. System-structural, formal-logical, bibliographic and informal [traditional] analysis methods were used. The main results: the analysis of scientific data on the contamination of agricultural soils as a result of hostilities was carried out. The role of heavy metals in the pollution of plowed lands is considered. It was determined that military activity leads to soil contamination with heavy metals: lead, copper, cadmium, antimony, chromium, nickel, and zinc. At the same time, lead, chromium and copper are the dominant pollutants. The issue of the threat of contamination of food products with heavy metals and, taking into account their toxicity, the negative impact on the health of the population is highlighted. Conclusions. The accumulation of heavy metals in the soils of areas of active hostilities indicates a negative effect on agriculture in the range from agricultural soils to crop production, and subsequently on people through the food chain. The development of a risk-oriented approach to the impact on the health of the population of food products contaminated with toxic substances, obtained in the territories contaminated as a result of military actions, is becoming highly relevant.