"The flooded mine will never again be a mine - it is already impossible to extract coal in it," Ecologist of the international organization Ecology-Right-Man said to the Observer Alexei Vasilyuk.

According to him, it is known that a number of mines located in the ATO zone are flooded. Despite the fact that today no one can estimate their exact number, one can certainly say: "all the mines are interconnected, so it would be ridiculous to say that one mine is flooded and the rest are not".

"This means that you can put a cross on coal mining in this region?" - asked "The Observer". "Of course!" - assured Vasylyuk.

And he added: "There are only a few suitable mines located far away from the ATU zone, separated from the main part of the industrial region - in the north-west of Donbass. But this exception. There are only a few ".

The ecologist also told that the flooded mines represent a huge potential threat to people living in this region. He explained: over the long decades and even centuries of coal mining in the Donbas, a huge network of underground voids was formed, including "under fields and villages".

At the same time, "toxic and radioactive components" could be present at the depths where coal was mined,.

Thus, due to the flooding of mines, these substances, together with water, can reach the surface and cause colossal contamination of water bodies. This fact will surely lead to the fact that Donbass will become a place of ecological disaster, where local residents will have to move. In addition, today no one can predict how the fauna inhabiting the reservoirs will react to the colossal pollution, - said the ecologist.