The air pollution in Kyiv is so bad that it is not recommended to go outside

It’s been more than two and a half years since Russia’s forces entered eastern Ukraine and a war that has been raging ever since a few hundred kilometers from our borders began. The protracted conflict, in addition to many other obvious damages, has an extremely unfavorable effect on the global and local climate situation in the region, which is already struggling with many problems.

Military activities involve large emissions, and in addition, many factors negatively affect the country’s air pollution indicators. The situation is so serious that the local authorities recommend that the population stay at home within the four walls. This could also have happened because the otherwise rosy data were further worsened by the devastating forest fires across the country.

The Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine announced on Friday that, in addition to the forest fires in the region, the burning of peat bogs is also responsible for the pollution, as the use of the high calorific value material is also extremely harmful to the state of the climate.

In the early hours of Friday morning, the Ukrainian capital was the leader of the continuously updated list of the Swiss company IQAir, which monitors the air quality of the most polluted cities. Later in the day, this improved somewhat, and by the end of the day, the Kyiv region was lower in the ranking. The decision-makers also clearly blamed forest fires for the phenomenon.

Experts pointed to the increased concentration of airborne particles: dust, soot and smoke as the main cause. By the way, forest fires do not only affect the capital and its surroundings, but the possibility of their occurrence is greater throughout the country due to weather conditions. Additional affected regions have been reported in several places over the past few days.

Although the impact of human activity on the climate does not directly cause fires, it can increase the risk of their occurrence. Warm weather, increasingly dry air, and the state of trees and ground vegetation are all suitable catalysts for a section of forest to catch fire. This is why the phenomenon does not only affect Ukraine, but we have experienced similar things all over the world, especially during the protracted weeks of the heat wave.

According to the World Resources Institute, almost twice as much forest area burned worldwide last year than in any year in the previous two decades. Smoke from these extensive fires can result in significant air quality degradation many kilometers away from the incidents. This is primarily caused by fine particle pollution known as PM2.5.

As a result of such events, the risk of respiratory diseases such as asthma or croup is also higher. If they exist, the cough symptoms may worsen, which in the long run can damage the lungs as well as the heart. One study estimates that it causes the deaths of about nine million people worldwide over the years.