Classification of War‐Induced Soil Contamination by the Type of Military Impact in Eastern Ukraine

ABSTRACT Armed conflicts cause significant, yet poorly understood, impacts on soils, including contamination with heavy metals and magnetic particles derived from explosions. The extent of war‐related soil pollution in Ukraine remains a debated issue. This pilot study integrates remote sensing, geochemical, agrochemical, and enviromagnetic methods to assess soil contamination in the Kharkiv region (eastern Ukraine). Heavy metal concentrations were generally close to background levels, with slight enrichment (1.1–1.3 times) at cruise missile and aerial bomb impact sites. An exception was observed at the helicopter crash site, where cadmium, copper, and zinc reached 12×, 4×, and 2× background levels, respectively. Elevated magnetic susceptibility values (up to 437 × 10 −8 m 3 kg −1 ) were recorded at the tank explosion site, contaminated by oil products. At other sites, magnetic values were usually lower in bomb‐turbated soils due to the removal of chernic horizons as a result of explosions. Overall, in Chernozems, war‐related damage is expressed more strongly through physical disturbance and fertility loss than through widespread heavy metal pollution. The study underscores the importance of combining geochemical and magnetic monitoring for postwar land restoration.