NOVGORODSKE, Ukraine — In the Donbas war zone, several manufacturing enterprises are potential environmental time-bombs, planted in dangerous proximity to the front line.
But the Dzerzhinsk Phenol Factory in Novgorodske, a town near the front line in Donetsk Oblast some 570 kilometers southeast of Kyiv, poses one of the most serious environmental threats.
The plant’s hazardous chemical waste storage ponds are caught between the opposing battle lines, and a slowly decay under crossfire shelling and lack of repair.
Amid ongoing fighting, poisonous leaks could be triggered at any moment – and the war that has already claimed at least 10,000 lives could produce a chemical disaster that would poison the water in large parts of the region.
Plant workers say they’re doing everything possible to avert a catastrophe, often at risk of their own lives. However, they say there is not much that can be done until the war dies down – and time is not on their side.
Read more about the threat of a chemical spill in the Donbas here.
