DYNAMICS ASSESSMENT OF CHANGES IN FOREST COVER AREA ON THE UKRAINE TERRITORY IN THE 21TH CENTURY BASED ON SATELLITE DATA

In Ukraine, as well as all regions of the world, deforestation processes are taking place. Monitoring forests in real-time is one of the key ways to solve the problem of deforestation. Satellite technologies make it possible to do this promptly and in time and space. In this research, the online platform Google Earth Engine was used, which provides access to remote sensing data and geospatial data sets with analysis capabilities. The research was conducted for the period 2001-2023 at the regional level and each administrative oblast. Noting that the war started on the territory of Ukraine in 2022, the research was also conducted separately for the years 2022-2023. Comparison of the obtained data with the pre-war period made it possible to assess the impact of hostilities on the forest cover within each administrative oblast, and they were ranked by the total area of forest cover loss. The analysis of the obtained data shows that a significant increase in deforestation, compared to 2001-2021, occurs in those areas where hostilities are taking place: Luhansk, Kharkiv, Kherson, Donetsk oblasts, or occurred in 2022 and where the strengthening of the northern border is currently taking place, by creating defensive structures in forest areas (Kyiv and Zhytomyr oblasts).