Scientists planted giant grass on war-damaged land in hope of cleaning Ukraine's polluted soil

NATO-backed scientists planted 13-foot-tall giant grass on war-damaged land near Bucha, hoping its roots can help clean Ukraine's polluted soil

 

Gigant Poaceae are pretty big nuisance if there is a plan to reforest bare land.
It is also pretty hard to believe, that Bucha region (suburb of Kyiv, locating just 23 km off from the very centre of the capital of Ukraine) is the bread basket to the World. Bread basket is those areas, where the frontline lies.
This article does not mention what kind of pollution Russians left there within ca two winter month, when they stayed there, any ideas?
Here, in Estonia, we can buy Miscanthuses for decorative planting, costing 5...12 € per pot. The species is not hardy enough to survive harshest winters here without any protection. AFAIK, the Kyiv region gets similar record lows (below -30°C) as we, despite being 1000 km south of me.

 

There has been a large expenditure of artillery shells in the conflict. So it follows that soil contamination would be endemic in areas of combat such as Bucha. Other types of ordnance would no doubt also contribute to the contamination.

The Environmental Impact of Weapons: A Hidden Crisis

 

In soviet era there was a Soviet tank training area less than 2 km from my location. And even now there are at least 4 shooting ranges in active use nearby. They fired thousand of rounds during the 50 years long period. And in forests around Tallins there are still munition finds from WWII. I wonder what kind of battle there was in Bucha during those 2 weeks in March 2022, that would surpass this? There was no significant damages to Kyiv, I recall burned Russian convoys (Javelins were the main culprit) in streets of Kyiv suburbs from news reports of this time, but not long lasting position war.

 

Here's the account of the Battle of Bucha in Wikipedia. The battle apparently lasted about one month.