Examples of environmental harm in Ukraine | return to map

Name: Avdiivka coke and chemical plant
Location: Avdiivka, Donetsk Oblast

CEOBS database ID: 10155

Context

Avdiivka coke and chemical plant was the largest coke production facility in Europe, producing a variety of related chemicals from the industrial process. In addition, the plant provided thermal and electrical energy to the town of Avdiivka. Avdiivka has been largely destroyed and most of its population has left, many of whom were workers at the facility.

Timeline of key incidents 

Damage to the plant has been reported throughout the invasion, with frequent incidents affecting Avdiivka.¹ Conflict-linked damage pre-dates February 2022, as the plant’s proximity to the frontline since 2014 has seen shelling and environmental harm. The site was temporarily occupied between April and July 2014.

13th March 2022

Following repeated shelling, the plant owners MetInvest reported damage to coke, tar-processing and coal preparation workshops, a warehouse, a transfer elevator and a conveyor. Social media footage showed a workshop fire with a large smoke plume, and damage to an elevator.

12th September 2022

A large plume of dark smoke emitted from a storage container and liquid burning on the ground were likely to have been caused by the resin distillation shop being set alight. The burning materials were likely coal tar or another heavier liquid or resin. 

28th September 2023

A rocket reportedly hit the naphthalene storage facility,² leading to a fire that produced dense black smoke.

An intensive period of damage occurred between October 2023 and March 2024 but is not presented here as it falls after our September 2023 operational security cut-off. We are tracking these incidents and hope to update this documentation when appropriate.

Damage assessment  

Combat has caused significant physical damage across the facility; at least 19% of its built structures had been destroyed by the end of September 2023, based on Synthetic Aperture Radar analysis.³ CEOBS’ analysis of social media and optical satellite imagery has identified 30 instances of direct damage. This extends across the site, including the furnaces, thermal power plant, various workshops, wastewater treatment facility, and the tailing piles where active fighting took place.

Environmental harm assessment

The shelling of the plant and surrounding area will have left residues from military materials and resuspended or re-mobilised legacy contamination; previous studies had identified a range of hazardous air pollutants that will have been deposited on and around the site.⁴ Discharges from damaged and leaking storage containers, coke furnaces and key workshops will add to the effects of legacy contamination on soils and groundwater. The damage assessment revealed a number of destroyed buildings at the wastewater treatment facility; the impact on the levels of contamination in the wastewater ponds and any additional risks to the surrounding environment are unclear. Some harm reduction measures were undertaken by staff at the plant, this included the removal of some flammable or dangerous chemicals. 

Fires at the site have generated considerable acute exposure risks to toxic air pollutants; two of the key events described here produced dense smoke from the combustion of various fossil fuel derivatives. Naphthalene is a carcinogenic PAH and pesticide, and inhalational exposure can cause respiratory distress. 

Longer-term implications

Because of the plant’s occupation and proximity to the frontline, environmental risks are magnified due to the lack of ongoing maintenance and capacity for risk reduction measures. Of particular concern are the implications for the plant’s waste infrastructure: the chemical and sludge storage ponds, the damaged wastewater treatment facility and the adjacent treatment ponds. 

The lower resinous layer of waste in tailings ponds can contain toxic organic compounds. In extreme weather, there may be spillages and run-off into local watercourses or alternatively solid fractions may be windblown when dried out. The absence of ongoing water level management makes these events more likely. Tailings dams can also be damaged or destroyed, risking catastrophic discharges of highly contaminated waters and tailings. The plant’s sludge storage facility is around 200m from a tributary to the Kamianske River and dam failure could impact downstream settlements and water sources. These deposits can also be a fire risk, with fires generating toxic smoke plumes and depositing pollutants. 

Other site components can also release pollutants – for example in January 2023 the ash disposal area was shelled as military forces advanced towards the plant. 

Dis/mis-information watch

There were a range of online claims concerning the extent to which the facility was being used for military purposes by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, including whether its coke plant was being used as an ammunition store.

External resources

Devastation in Avdiivka: Mapping damage to civilian infrastructure since the full-scale invasion | CIR

What to Know About the Fall of Avdiivka | NYT

Donbas tailings storage facilities | OSCE

 

Return to the country map here.