The thread will be in English. I will be asking for retweets of this thread. So, a week ago, I went to the Desna River in the Chernihiv region to see what's happening there and how the pollution of Ukrainian rivers Seym and Desna looks. In short – it’s terrifying.
A bit of context: on August 14th, the first reports started to appear about fish dying in the Seym River in the Sumy region. By the end of August, these reports were everywhere in local media, and locals were posting videos on social media showing dead fish.
September, polluted water had reached the Desna River in the Chernihiv region. Results of this can be seen in the photos. Or, at the end of the thread, there will be a link to a text. For English-speaking readers – Ukrainian there isn't complicated, and auto-translate will handle
I asked various authorities at both regional and state levels: from the Environmental Inspection and Disease Control Center to the Ministry of Ecology. They all say that the pollutant is organic. That’s why the tests have taken so long. It's easier to find a chemical pollutant.
As explained to me by the Environmental Inspection (and independent ecologists as well), the process is as follows: the organic pollutant in the water starts to oxidize. For this, it needs oxygen. Accordingly, it begins to consume it from the water.
Since there is less dissolved oxygen in the water, everything alive starts to suffocate. Die. Rot. The rotting process also requires oxygen. And it starts to disappear from the water even faster. This process is like an avalanche that is almost impossible to stop.
No diseases or chemicals were found in the dead fish that were analyzed. So, they died precisely due to a lack of oxygen. Over the past weeks, more than 18 tons of dead fish have been collected in the Chernihiv and Sumy regions combined. You can imagine the scale of the disaster.
When I was at the Desna a week ago, I saw hundreds of dead fish washed up on the shore. There were some very large pikes, over a meter long. There was fish that looked like sturgeon. The river itself was brown and green in color and smelled strongly of corpses.
Where did the pollutant come from? Probably from the Kursk region of Russia, pollution was seen at the border. The closest facility that could have discharged enough organic waste is the sugar factory in Tyotkino. Further upstream, there was leather factory in Rylsk.
What’s important: this isn't the first time. Smaller-scale pollution and fish deaths occurred in late May 2024 and October 2019. 2019 – it was possible to establish that the source of the pollution was in Tyotkino. May 2024 – pollution was recorded from the state border.
Essentially, as it is this time. But problem is that Ukraine does not have objective control in the area of potential pollution, we cannot confirm that the Russians did it, nor can we determine exactly how and where exactly it happened.
That's why foreign colleagues are being very cautious with this topic right now. And I understand why) I wrote everything I could find out in a text for the Ukrainian media.
Is there a threat to Kyiv's drinking water? Such a risk is always there, and preparations are underway for that. But, in my opinion, the primary concern here should be the death of the entire ecosystem of the Seym and Desna rivers. Because almost all the fish there have died.
You can read the text about what I managed to see and hear at this link:
Updates. The Department of Environmental Protection of Sumy Region on 9th of September reports that satellite images were analyzed, revealing that the wastewater basin of the sugar factory in Tyotkino was emptied in the second decade of August. In July, it was full of waste.
Second decade of August, area where waste basin was located showed exposed soil. No visible damage was detected on the satellite images. According to the Department, at least 5,700 cubic meters of wastewater from the sugar factory in Tyotkino have entered the Seym River.
Currently, the situation in the Seym River has improved; the level of dissolved oxygen in the water is rising but has not yet reached the normal limits. Original post on Facebook here: