The cries of terror are initially quiet. Then they slowly grow. A small child emerges from a small rectangular hole that was once the first floor window of a family home, his face contorted with fear.
He is taken to safety by a neighbor whom he clings to for his life. The two begin to wade through the damp, brown water to a safe place.
This is the city of Kherson in southern Ukraine, much of which is under water after Wednesday’s explosion that destroyed the Kakhovka Dam, which has been under Russian control since early last year, and inundated more than 40 towns and villages.
It’s a crime of epic proportions. The reservoir behind the dam held 18 cubic kilometers of water, which is equivalent to the Great Salt Lake in the United States.
The water will be used to cool the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe, 150 kilometers upstream. It also irrigates large parts of southern Ukraine and Crimea. The South is farmland – and soil is the key to survival here.
On Wednesday, June 7, 2023, streets in Kherson, Ukraine, are flooded after the walls of the Kakhovka Dam collapsed
The Kakhovka hydroelectric power station dam was damaged on Wednesday in Nowa Kakhovka near Kherson
Ukrainian soldiers help unload a disabled resident from a boat during an evacuation from a flooded area in Kherson
David Patrikarakos in Bachmut
This is not only a crime against Ukraine and the environment, but also against humanity. The people here can no longer live and work in the area.
Thousands are trapped in the flooded area – an estimated 230 square miles – and thousands of animals are dead in the most devastating act of the war to date.
“This is hell – but instead of fire we have water,” a local told me yesterday, then added, as people so often do here: “Damn Russians.”
Reports of new horrors reach me almost every hour. Contacts are sending videos and pictures of everything from sofas to the corpses of pets floating through towns and cities. Many elderly, disabled and people with large families are trapped.
Some contemplate either a quick death by drowning or the agony of a slower end when no one can reach them.
Even by the standards of this war, what is unfolding is horrifying.
But who is responsible for this remains controversial – at least as far as Moscow is concerned.
Kyiv insists that Russian forces blew up the dam after dismantling it late last year to secure their withdrawal from the city of Kherson in an attempt to slow down Ukraine’s already-started counter-offensive in certain areas by overturning military operations prevented the Dnieper.
US intelligence says it has “conclusive evidence” that the culprit is Russia, a view shared by its diplomats. “Why would Ukraine do this to its own territory and people, flood its country, force tens of thousands of people to leave their homes — it doesn’t make sense,” said Deputy US Ambassador to the United Nations Robert Wood.
For its part, Russia has accused “Ukrainian saboteurs” of blowing up the dam to deprive the Russian-controlled Crimean reservoir of fresh water.
A Kherson resident is wrapped in a warm blanket after being rescued from the flood waters by rescue workers
During an evacuation, volunteers carry residents on inflatable boats
Volunteers evacuate a dog from a flooded area
However, outside of Russian state media and the extreme fringes of social media, no one believes such claims. Meanwhile, the Ukrainians are fighting for their lives again – and are dying in droves.
Natalya Kozova, in a pink sweatshirt and leopard pants, climbs out of a lifeboat barefoot and with her dog on a leash.
With a few plastic bags in hand, she is one of the lucky ones who got to safety – and begins to tell her story.
“The water started to rise last night. By this morning it had completely flooded the first floor. Since we live on the third floor, we waited until the last minute to leave.
“There are five people left in the block of flats.” They don’t want to leave – mainly because they are old. We will now stay with our son in Kherson. “We will see how it goes on.”
Meanwhile, in the Shuminsky district of Kherson, Serhiy and Igor swim along a row of flooded houses in search of anyone who might need help escaping.
“Kherson has become Venice,” they say, managing a laugh. The men are locals – Kherson is their “favorite city”. Except that the city they know and love is gone.
“We just have to be careful not to hit us with a mine or other debris in the water.” See the towel?’ they ask, pointing to a partially flooded house.
Towels hanging out of the windows mean someone is inside who needs help to evacuate.
The conversation flows with the brown water. The men are workers: Igor used to work in a car wash, Serhiy laid sidewalks. However, now there is no work in the city. And yet they refuse to go. “Where shall we go?”
Local residents sail boats on a flooded road during an evacuation from a flooded area after the rupture of the Nova Kakhovka Dam
Ukrainian President Zelenskyy visits the flood-hit Kherson region
Volunteers evacuate a disabled elderly woman from a flooded neighborhood in Kherson
Local authorities have set up nine shelters for the evacuees, but they face the same problem. People just don’t want to leave Kherson. They want to stay—either at an animal shelter or at a friend’s house.
The men swim to an apartment block and go to the ninth floor, knocking on all the doors. A woman in a nightgown comes out on the top floor. She won’t go either.
“Where would we go? “We have cats, parrots – and children,” she says. This chorus is heard over and over again by Ukrainians across the country.
Before that, they suffered from Russian bombs and missiles and the brutality of their soldiers. Now it seems that Moscow itself has used the elements as a weapon against them.
“People don’t want to sleep in a hostel with strangers; “Many have pets,” Serhiy continues, “and at the end of the day, your home is a home.”
Hundreds of thousands in the Kherson region are without drinking water. “I don’t know what will happen to the water now,” adds Sergei, pointing to the surrounding tide. “It’s not possible to drink that.” See those bubbles there? It’s the sewage that comes out.’
While people are suffering on the right bank of Kherson, which was liberated by the Ukrainian army late last year, the situation on the city’s left bank, which is still controlled by the Russians, is really dire.
Reporting from Russian-controlled territory is almost impossible, but through local contacts I heard from “Ludmilla”, a 48-year-old mother of three.
“It’s hell here,” she says. “I see bodies floating past me on the street.” People are screaming for help, but no one comes. I have relatives across the river who are willing to pick me up, but I was told that the authorities here would not allow that.
“The first night was the worst. I was afraid for my children. I kept screaming for help, but none came. I hugged my youngest tightly and prayed.
“My neighbors, who were young or childless, tried their best to comfort me, but there was nothing they could do. I’m lucky, I live on the sixth floor. The water hasn’t reached me yet. I don’t know what happened to the people living below.’
Residents evacuate their building in a flooded area of Kherson
Volunteers try to help a cat in a flooded area of Kherson
People walk down a flooded street that submerged after the dam collapsed
According to Oksana Hliebushkina, executive director of the Kherson NGO New Generation, Ludmilla’s story is typical.
She helps coordinate aid to those in need and tells me that the occupied Left Bank has been hardest hit. “We have a dangerous situation there because the people are without any support,” she says.
Worse, it appears that the quisling authorities there are determined to make matters worse for many of the people they are supposed to be protecting.
“Some of our brave volunteers, who have a boat, tried to bring families with children to the Ukrainian side.” But they are prevented – the Russians only help those who decided to take Russian passports with them.
“Many people and animals died.” The Russians even prevent people from going to safety in Crimea. Cars are rejected at the checkpoint. Most of the survivors are old or disabled, but sometimes they are families with children.
“And now those who volunteer and want to help are being bombed by the Russians.” One person has already died and two have been injured, including a police officer. I think we’re going to see a lot more horror.”
As always, the Russians seem happy to shell civilian targets everywhere. As of Thursday afternoon, there were reports of several casualties at Kherson No. 2 School, where people made homeless by the floods were taking shelter.
In another part of the city, an evacuation point was shelled. A frightened 96-year-old grandma, who screamed in pain as she was helped onto a stretcher and into an ambulance, typifies the terror that reigns supreme here.
A police officer and a woman help evacuate an elderly resident from a flooded area in Kherson
Police evacuate residents from a flooded area
Police evacuate residents from a flooded area
The story of Maksym, a little boy who had water thrown into the skylight by a drone while trapped on the roof of his house, is occupying Ukraine. When he was taken to safety, he gratefully called one of his rescuers “Santa Claus.”
For many, the dam explosion is just another symptom of Russia’s barbarism – wanton destruction for its own sake.
“It’s not enough that they’re trying to destroy our state and its people, but now also our ecology,” a Ukrainian friend told me over dinner the night of the blast.
Every hour seems to bring a new low. And it’s not just the physical effects of it all. Oksana Hliebushkina is concerned about the psychological consequences of the flood. “We’re dealing with people who have lost everything,” she tells me.
“Volunteers on the ground tell me they need psychologists to deal with the emotional trauma people are going through.” But we don’t have any in Kherson right now.
“I want to say to the world: The NATO summit is coming up next month.” [July] in Vilnius. Please let us join NATO. The bombing of the dam showed once again that we must be able to defend ourselves. It’s about our survival now.’
She’s not wrong. If the war has taught the people here anything, it’s that you have to be strong to survive.
On Friday morning Ukraine stepped up its counter-offensive, deploying armored personnel carriers and drones to direct artillery fire into the area between Orikhiv and Tokmak, key cities, while military chiefs attempt to advance south to the Sea of Azov.
Most strikingly, while the world is watching in shock and horror, many Ukrainians, especially those who experienced Russian occupation, are not surprised.
“We knew the Russians were capable of anything,” my friend Anton told me, “and we were able to move into action very quickly.”
Now all eyes are on Ukrainian General Oleksandr Syrsky, the man leading the counteroffensive.
Whether the country can drive Russian forces back from the areas they hold will depend in large part on its command skills. He has become a national hero and the people are behind him.
This speaks to a broader truth that Russians have never understood. They believe that they will use fear and terror to force Ukrainians into submission.
They believe their brutality will break them. You are wrong. Every crime their soldiers commit, every barbaric act they commit against Ukraine and its civilians only serves to strengthen the resolve of the people here.
Putin wanted a weak and pliable Ukraine in the face of Russian influence. Instead, he has unified a strong and independent country like never before, one that denounces the Kremlin’s evil.
It’s a lesson he has yet to learn, and out here, while the country suffers from ongoing tragedy, people are more determined than ever that he finally understands that no matter what terror he incites, Russia will never win in Ukraine.