USE OF SATELLITE INFORMATION FOR EVALUATION OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES OF THE WAR IN UKRAINE

The article is devoted to the assessment of the economic losses of Ukraine in 2022 as a result of armed conflict based on the analysis of remote sensing data. Today, under conditions of war in Ukraine, there are growing crises in the economic, social, natural, and other spheres of society. Under these conditions, there is a growing need for objective operational monitoring and assessment of the direction of changes in the economy and social sphere of life of the population. That is why the purpose of the study was chosen to evaluate the possibilities of using the VIIRS thermal imager data installed on the Suomi NPP satellite about the night illumination of the territory to monitor the socio-economic development of Ukrainian regions during military operations. The data from the Suomi NPP satellite for March 2021 (pre-war period) and 2022 (during the period of military aggression) were used for the study. Methodologically, the quantitative indicator chosen is the total light intensity (TLI), namely, the sum of the illuminance values of all pixels on the territory of each of the regions of Ukraine. It was found that the value of the total night illumination of the administrative regions of Ukraine depends on the number of settlements in the region, the development of industry and transport network, as well as the area of the administrative area. In addition, the intensity of illumination of the methodology of J. Vernon Henderson is closely related to an important indicator of economic activity—electricity consumption. The article presents statistical and illustrative results of the analysis of night illumination from the Suomi NPP/VIIRS satellite of the administrative regions of Ukraine for March 2021, and 2022. Analysis of the results showed that the value of the ratio of night light for March 2021, and 2022 vary in a wide range from 0.84 to 21.2. On average, the value of the change in the night light index for March 2021 and 2022 for all regions of Ukraine is 6.04. Such changes in nighttime illumination can be explained both directly by combat operations and by the observance of light camouflage, the introduction of curfew during martial law in Ukraine, as well as the small industrial and economic development of the economy in some regions of Ukraine and the low level of spatial concentration of the population. The novelty of this study is the improvement, based on the use of materials from the SNPP/VIIRS satellite with greater spatial resolution, of the previously developed nighttime illumination methodology and its practical application during active warfare.