The eastern part of Ukraine is one of the largest areas industrial concentration from Eastern Europe. And it is here that some of the fiercest battles in the Russian invasion war are fought. It goes without saying that the risks are exponentially greater in these circumstances, as a single missile could cause tremendous damage. Chemical plants abound in eastern Ukraine, and the Russians don’t seem concerned about the consequences of an attack. But fear is growing among the population, especially after a Russian bomb was dangerously dropped near a manufacturing facility phenol in NYC.
The city of New York, which was changed to Novhorodske during Soviet times, resumed its original name only a year ago. Its name is a tribute to the American who founded it two centuries ago. It is a very small village and much of its economy revolves around the phenol factory, a benzene derivative characterized by a hydroxyl group linked to the typical ring structure of this class of chemical compounds. About 700 people work at the New York factory and fortunately, at least this time the factory was not affected. But the Donbass front is not far away, and the city has already been the subject of artillery and military strikes Russian bombs. The last attack claimed 4 lives in the city and the battle feels like it’s getting closer.
The presence of the plant in the city has always been a cause of controversy, precisely because of its dangerousness. In the past there have been several accidents with devastating consequences for public health. There was an increase in tumors in children with an increase in endocrine problems. Also, as a local citizen told La Repubblica, in the 1990s the waste from processing was dumped into some ponds outside of New York, with the result poisoning. In the event of a bomb hit in the facility or one of its facilities where the storage facility or waste is located, the health risks in the surrounding areas would also be very high. Inhaling the released phenol vapors could cause this pulmonary edema but also severe damage to the nervous system and the heart in the years that followed.
But the New York phenol plant is just one example, because the Donbass region and much of eastern Ukraine are home to heavy industry, gas pipelines and chemical plants, as well as a multitude of mines. Even if all industries were spared, the consequences of prolonged power outages, usually during a war, would be just as devastating. Viktor Davidovichthe director of the Toreck mine near New York, explained that without electricity, the workers would be trapped in the structures and the suction pumps that prevent the mines from flooding would not work, leading to the poisoning of the mines. layers at supersaturation.