Nova Kakhovka
From Celebration to Destruction
Seven decades ago, the construction of the Nova Kakhovka dam and the reservoir of fresh water behind it were celebrated as one of the great projects of Communism. It inspired Alexander Dovzhenko, one of the most important early Soviet filmmakers, whose works are studied in film schools worldwide. His last project, the drama film Poem of the Sea, was directed by Dovzhenko and later completed by his widow, Yulia Solntseva, after his death from a heart attack before the movie was finished.
The dam raised the level of the mighty Dnieper River, one of Europe’s largest and widest rivers, by 16 meters and enabled its redirection to the dry Crimean Peninsula, leading to the development of urban centers and irrigated agriculture. It was the sixth and final dam in the Dnieper reservoir cascade. Canals from the reservoir made the steppes of southern Ukraine the Soviet Union’s breadbasket and were deep enough to accommodate an entire fleet of cargo ships.
To overcome the administrative and logistical challenges of the enormous project, Communist Moscow decided to incorporate Crimea into Soviet Ukraine, which was a simple bureaucratic act at the time.
In 2004, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin condemned this decision as he announced the annexation of the Black Sea peninsula. In response, Ukraine cut off the Crimean canal, devastating agriculture and making life difficult for over two million permanent residents and numerous Russian tourists visiting Crimea’s beaches and mountains.
On the 25th of February, the second day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Moscow gained control of the dam and promptly restored the canal. While Russian forces withdrew from the city in November, they still control the left bank of the river, which has been flooded since the dam collapsed early on Tuesday.
As Moscow and Kyiv continue to accuse each other of destroying the dam, which held together Ukraine’s largest water reservoir and provided water to millions, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that the dam was most certainly blasted from within, calling the destruction an environmental bomb of mass destruction. Moscow claimed the destruction was a pre-planned diversion by the Ukrainian side, and Putin termed the attack a barbaric act.
Meanwhile, western powers do not seem to have the same perspective on the situation. Germany blames Russia for blowing up the dam, while the USA and UK have announced investigations into the incident.
As highly polluted water containing oil and industrial chemicals floods downstream communities, and water supply to Europe’s largest nuclear power plant (Zaporizhzhia) is cut off, both Western and Russian analysts speculate on how such a disaster, if caused by Russia, would benefit the Kremlin. Some argue that the Kremlin is desperate for any kind of truce or freeze in military actions that would provide them with the time needed to mobilize more men and manufacture more arms.
Furthermore, the road above the dam served as the only route for transporting Ukrainian troops and weaponry across the river, a maneuver that is now impossible due to the floodwater. In other words, blowing up the dam thwarts all of Ukraine’s offensive plans.
Regardless of whose claims may seem more or less plausible, there is one thing everyone agrees on: the collapse of the dam will have devastating long-term consequences for Ukraine’s agriculture and economy. Vast farmlands in the Zaporizhia and Kherson regions will revert to steppes, and Ukraine’s entire agricultural output will decline. Up to one million people are likely to be left without drinking water. The United Nations aid chief said the collapse of the dam is possibly the most significant incident of damage to civilian infrastructure since the war began in February 2022.
In Poem of the Sea (also known as Shchodennyk or Journal), Dovzhenko, who was known for his poetic and lyrical style of filmmaking, often incorporated themes related to nature, the connection between humans and the land, and the struggles of ordinary people. He portrayed the beauty of the Ukrainian landscape and explored the impact of social and political changes on individuals and communities, as ancient villages were submerged to build a dam and bring progress… Never imagining that seventy years later it would be destroyed in a devastating war.
Thank you for reading.
