Toxic emissions from a Ukrainian titanium plant in Armyansk, a city in the northern part of Russia-occupied Crimea, have reached the Ukrainian mainland.
Due to the hazard to public health, Ukraine has temporarily closed Kalanchak and Chaplynka checkpoints on the border with Crimea, spokesperson for the State Border Guard Service Oleh Slobodyan announced on Sept. 6.
Currently, the only way to get into the occupied peninsula is through Chongar checkpoint.
“Ukrainian citizens (in Crimea) who seek refuge from the natural disaster in mainland Ukraine will be let through (the checkpoint) in a quicker, simplified manner,” Slobodyan wrote on his Facebook page.
A special commission with experts from Ukraine’s Ecology Ministry, State Ecological Inspection, Healthcare Ministry, and the Emergency Situations Service arrived in Kherson Oblast on Sept. 5 to meet with residents in the affected border areas of Chaplynka and Kalanchak and take air, water, and soil samples for laboratory tests.
“The test results will come next week,” Kherson Oblast governor Andriy Gordeyev told journalists on Sept. 6. “But preliminary assessment confirms that the source of contamination is the Crimean Titanium plant.”
A group of medics from Kherson went to Chaplynka and Kalanchak to examine locals who have complained about feeling unwell.
Fifteen local teenagers were reportedly taken to hospital with suspected chemical poisoning. All showed similar symptoms, such as laryngitis (sore throat) and watering eyes, TSN TV channel reported on Sep.6.
The reports from Kherson correspond to earlier reports from the residents of Armyansk in Crimea about health issues, throat and nose irritation, and skin rashes. Many experienced difficulty in breathing and smelled an acrid odor.
In addition, people have posted photographs on social media showing metal items in their households covered in a red, rust-like substance.
It took over a week from the first reports of a possible chemicals leak from Armyansk on Aug. 23 for the Kremlin-appointed authorities in occupied Crimea to react. They then said that the extensive pollution had been caused by excessive emissions of sulphur dioxide from the Crimean Titanium plant as a result of dry and hot weather.
On Sept. 4, the Kremlin-installed head of Crimea, Sergey Aksyonov, announced that the plant would be shut down for two weeks, as would schools and kindergartens. Teenagers and small children are being evacuated from the town to sanatoriums and summer camps.
Crimean Titanium is the former but still commonly used name of a chemicals plant which belongs to Ukrainian oligarch Dmytro Firtash’s Group DF. It is the largest chemicals manufacturer in Eastern Europe, and has been managed by a Moscow-registered company belonging to Firtash since Russia started its occupation of Ukraine’s Crimea in 2014.
The plant was renamed Ukrainian Chemical Products in 2015. Besides titanium dioxide, it produces mineral fertilizers, sulphuric acid, and other chemicals used in the production of paint, plastics, and rubber.
