A flood is usually a disaster, but the neighbors Demydiv they are proud to have helped save Kiev after the Ukrainian army opening a dam in February to halt the advance of Russian troops to the capital.

“It was like Venice. Sometimes we also traveled by boat“, says one of the neighbors, Volodímir, with that mixture of stoicism and resignation so typical of Ukrainians.

The waters have receded, but there are many houses of this one small town of about 4,000 inhabitants north of kiev they have the flooded basementswhile the neighboring fields remain submerged or are a quagmire in which nothing can be planted.

A tanker goes three times a week bring drinking water because the wells have leaked.

Ukraine’s plan to stop the Russian advance: flood a village

On February 25, the Ukrainian army flooded the city along with a vast expanse of fields and swamps around it, thus preventing Russian armor from reaching the capital.

The inhabitants of Demydiv had to live with a sea of stagnant water which made life very difficult for them. However, they are proud that they helped defend their country.

“I have a flooded patio, but kyiv is still standing,” explains Grigori, 63, noting that the water level has reached his knee and shows that his basement and well are still flooded.

To stop the Russian advance, the Ukrainian army was forced to blow up bridges, destroy roads and airports and, in this case, open a dam.

The strategy has a huge cost for a country that has already been ravaged by Russian attacks. Only the Damage to infrastructure amounts to approximately 90,000 million eurosaccording to a study by the Kyiv School of Economics.

“Our military did what they should have done. The tanks would have reached Kiev in an hour, “adds Grigori, who regrets losing some of his crop.

“They promised us help, but I suppose they have more urgent things now, “he acknowledges.

Although some neighbors complain about the slow cleaning work and the lack of clean water, the country has joined and some farmers have given up some of their land to those who have lost their orchards due to the flood.

Some report that they also have shared preserves and foodas well as transportation of gasoline and cleaning work.

“A work of months” to get the country back to normal

Yuri Koshchenko is a municipal worker pumps the water through a sand dam that protects the town from a lake created by the dam’s opening. There the water reveals the treetops only in some cases.

The dam protects the citybut it is poorly insulated and the water continues to seep from below, so Yuri uses a pump that drains 400 liters of water per minute to compensate.

“This is a month of work“he explains shortly before filling the pump motor with diesel fuel. The dam that was opened to let the water out was damaged by a Russian attack and which also prevents the water accumulated there from being drained faster.

With information from EFE.