Preventing disaster in Donbas

VIENNA — Ukraine suffered one of the most horrendous man-made disasters in recent memory — the Chernobyl nuclear accident of 1986. It is now suffering through a war that is poisoning relations between Donbas and the rest of Ukraine, polluting the political climate between Kiev and Moscow and tainting the relationship between Russia and countries around the world.

The conflict also has the potential to create pollution of a very real kind — as continued fighting threatens chlorine storage facilities, chemical plants, metallurgical factories, hazardous waste storage sites, and coal mines.

The situation is a ticking time bomb. Because the divided communities are geographically very close, an incident on one side of the line of contact will have an impact on people living on the other side — and beyond.

For example, earlier this year shelling hit a building at the Donetsk Filter Station, where 7,000 kilograms of chlorine gas is stored. Had it exploded, the damage would have been catastrophic.

One of Europe’s most heavily industrialized regions is now one of the most kinetic.

As the crisis in and around Ukraine stretches into its fourth year, cease-fire violations range from a few hundred to well over a thousand daily. Civilians are caught in the cross fire. Unarmed monitors of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) are threatened, their mission impeded.

Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz | John Macdougall/AFP via Getty Images

Despite the Minsk agreements that were meant to stabilize the situation, heavy weapons and ammunition continue to move into the region, and mines are being laid. Since the beginning of the year, the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine has confirmed 347 civilian casualties: 64 killed, and 283 injured — an increase of more than 30 percent compared to the same period last year.

Despite negotiations within the “Normandy” group (the Russian Federation, Ukraine, France and Germany), the political process is stalled. Despite regular meetings of the “Trilateral Contact Group” (Ukraine, Russia and the OSCE — including representatives of certain regions of the Donbas) a normalization of the situation on the ground remains a distant prospect.

It will take time for diplomacy to run its course. In the meantime, urgent action is needed to prevent a humanitarian and environmental disaster in the Donbas.

At a minimum, all sides in the conflict should respect the civilian nature of these facilities, and stay clear of them. They should be treated as safe zones. Channels of communication should be established in case of an emergency. Adequate emergency services and equipment should be made available.

Pollution does not respect boundaries. Therefore, everyone living in the region should have an interest in reducing risks and preventing an ecological disaster.

If chemicals released by a misaimed shell were to leak into rivers or groundwater, hundreds of thousands of people would be affected. The flooding of coal mines has the potential to contaminate the water supply and devastate agriculture — even in neighboring Russia.

Similarly, the threat to basic services, like water and electricity, cannot be understated. This past winter, during freezing cold temperatures, electricity was knocked out around the eastern Ukrainian city of Avdiivka. Power lines were repaired, and then shelled, and then repaired again. Thousands of people were left without heat or drinking water.

To make peace in eastern Ukraine, the parties need to stop shooting. A good place to start would be around critical infrastructure.

In recent weeks, water treatment plants and pumping stations have been hit repeatedly near the line of contact. Over 1 million people in communities on both sides of the line are dependent on the South Donbas Water Pipeline — including almost half a million downstream in Mariupol. Their water supply is at risk, and temperatures remain high.

All parties in the conflict need to put aside politics and focus on the fate of the people in this devastated region. That is why Austria’s chairmanship of the OSCE is calling for a disaster risk reduction initiative for eastern Ukraine. The “Trilateral Contact Group” (Ukraine, Russia, OSCE) has taken up this approach and will discuss it in its upcoming meetings. Evidence-based policies need to be made urgently to prevent a disaster from literally poisoning the people of the Donbas region who have suffered so much already.

To make peace in eastern Ukraine, the parties need to stop shooting. A good place to start would be around critical infrastructure.

Sebastian Kurz is foreign minister of Austria and chairperson-in-office of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.