Lawmaker Warns of Risk of Environmental Disaster at Chervonohrad Factory

According to MP Mykhailo Volynets, the prolonged shutdown of the Chervonohrad Central Concentration Plant is already posing serious risks to the region. This concerns not only potential problems with the operation of state-owned mines and preparations for the heating season, but also the deterioration of the environmental situation due to toxic combustion, which may pose a health hazard to local residents.

According to him, the plant’s shutdown and management’s inaction have led to the destruction of production facilities and created the threat of a large-scale man-made disaster. Due to the prolonged storage of coal residues in the bunkers, active combustion has begun, damaging equipment and potentially making the resumption of the plant’s operations extremely difficult or even impossible.

“They’ll destroy the region’s only coal preparation plant and ruin the region’s environment… But who will be held accountable for people’s health?” Volynets emphasizes.

He claims that repeated requests from emergency services to contain the dangerous situation have been rejected, and rescue workers are still being denied access to the plant’s premises.

According to the lawmaker, the consequences are already extending far beyond the boundaries of a single enterprise. He states that as coal burns, toxic substances are released into the atmosphere, which can pollute the air, soil, and water bodies, and negatively impact agriculture, flora, and fauna.

“Without exaggeration, this is a local environmental and socio-economic disaster for the entire region,” Volynets stated.

He also noted that further delays in resuming operations at the Chervonohrad Central Coal Processing Plant pose increasingly greater risks for getting through the heating season, and the consequences for the region’s residents, he said, could be irreparable.

This was stated by Mykhailo Volynets, a member of the Ukrainian Parliament and chairman of the Independent Trade Union of Miners of Ukraine.

Legal disputes surrounding the Chervonohradplant could disrupt preparations for winter.

On June 8, in the Chernihiv region, power outages were reported as a result of yet another Russian attack. More than 48,000 consumers were left without power. The attack led to widespread power outages in the region. The relevant services are working to restore power to affected customers.

As a result of yet another targeted strike by Russian occupation forces on critical infrastructure in the Chernihiv region on May 31, serious problems with the power supply arose. The enemy attack on a local energy facility led to an immediate power outage affecting approximately 40,000 residential and industrial customers directly in the city of Chernihiv itself.