Life returns to Ukrainian reservoir drained by Russian strike on dam

https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jul/20/life-returns-to-ukrainian-reservoir-drained-by-russian-strike-on-dam

Life returns to Ukrainian reservoir drained by Russian strike on dam

The water level fell dramatically after the dam was blown up downstream, creating ponds and lagoons.

Photograph: Alessio Mamo/The There is a unique smell here. It smells of bugs,”

A year later, animals, birds and saplings are populating a new landscape of ponds and lagoons

By Luke Harding in Malokaterynivka. Photographs by Alessio Mamo
Sat 20 Jul 2024 08.00 EDT

Standing in a scene of shimmering green, Vadym Maniuk pointed to a young white willow tree. “What happened here is a miracle,” he said. “Some of the saplings are already 4 metres tall. There is nowhere else like this on the planet. Not even the Amazon comes close.”

Maniuk, an ecologist, picked his way through a jungle of new branches. The sky above was scarcely visible. In the mud – cracked after days of sweltering temperatures – were the remains of molluscs. The scientist showed off black poplars, also racing upwards, reeds and a small mulberry. Under the leaves it was pleasantly cool.

Just over a year ago, the spot where Maniuk stood was under several metres of water. In the 1920s Stalin ordered the construction of a series of hydroelectric power stations along the Dnipro. The area between two of the dams – one in Zaporizhzhia, the other in Kakhovka – became a vast artificial lake.

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In the absence of humans, animals and birds have taken up residence. A cuckoo and swallows flew above the treeline. A local shopkeeper, Karina, said she saw wild boar from her second-floor balcony. “Scientists say rebuilding the reservoir after Ukraine wins will cause a second ecocide. I’m more worried the boar will eat our vegetables,” she said. The Dnipro has resumed its old course. Fish not seen for eight decades have reappeared, including sturgeon and herring. Police discovered this remarkable fact when they arrested a group of poachers. In their boat were 16 endangered sturgeon. “Maybe the fish have a genetic memory. The water is fast-flowing again. There are more bream and perch,” Maniuk said.

… more… archaeological finds… “There is a unique smell here. It smells of bugs,”