In his village of Afanasyivka, Yuriy looks around in bewilderment, the water reaching his chest. This Ukrainian farmer saw his land devastated by floods caused by the destruction by the war of a dam on the Dnieper.
Just a week ago, this 56-year-old man was growing fruits and vegetables and grazing his cows. Today, his farm in the Mykolaiv region of southern Ukraine is shrouded in muddy water.
The destruction by explosions last week of the Kakhovka dam, upstream on the river, caused major flooding in the southern part of the Ukrainian territory, a key region for the primary sector of the economy already devastated by the conflict. with Russia.
Moscow and Kiev blame each other for this disaster, but the dam was indeed in an area controlled by the Russians and, according to the Ukrainian army, they were trying to curb a counter-offensive by flooding the region.
These floods are another blow for farmers in these regions, who are already struggling to cultivate their land due to frequent bombardments and the need to clear mines.
“What is under water here could have fed several large families for a year,” laments Yuriy, watching drowned ducklings float by.
“(Vladimir) Putin took everything from us,” he shouts.
According to the Ukrainian Ministry of Agriculture, several million tons of crops could be lost.
On the right bank of the Dnieper, under Ukrainian control, 10,000 hectares of agricultural land have been flooded, the ministry estimates. The area affected on the left bank, occupied by the Russians, is even larger.
If the water has started to recede in certain districts of the city of Kherson, the small village of Afanassiïvka is still half under water due to the flooding of a river, the Ingulets.
The torrent that poured in mainly ravaged potato crops and grazing areas, also drowning small farm animals.
The village has no electricity, telephone network or drinking water. Isolated, it is only accessible with the help of the Ukrainian military.
Olena Gouliouk, a 59-year-old farmer, went to the crossing point to get bottles of water from volunteers. Her hands and her dress are covered in mud after she went to try to retrieve her things.
“Our hay is soaked. We had cereals to feed the animals, they were also spoiled. Our huts were washed away with the waves with the animals inside. Our rabbits died, it is very painful”, explains Olena, who has been a farmer all her life.
“We had planted potatoes, beets, carrots, everything necessary,” she lists. “Today there is nothing left.”
Before the floods, 470,000 hectares of agricultural land in Ukraine was already littered with unexploded ordnance and mines, according to the Ministry of Agriculture.
“The Russians just want to destroy Ukraine… They set fire to our houses, rockets flew over our heads but we survived… Now we won’t let ourselves drown,” swears Olena.
Others are not optimistic.
“These bastards have destroyed our agricultural land. Nothing will grow for a decade, it’s an ecological disaster,” said Vassyl Palamarchouk, 71, who operates a farm in the village.
Bare-chested, he piles up soaked corn cobs, hardly usable to feed humans or animals.
As strawberry plants rot under water, prices have started to rise in local markets.
“The whole harvest has been flooded (…) How are people going to make money? How are they going to live?” asks Olga Markova, a 63-year-old trader.
“This year there will most likely be hunger. Kherson fed all of Ukraine and Russia. Look what they did to us,” she laments.
Yuriy, meanwhile, continues to remove floating debris at his Mykolaiv farm, gesturing angrily at the water and demanding that Russia compensate the farmers.
“This moron sitting in the Kremlin is responsible for all this,” he asserts.
13/06/2023 09:53:42 – Afanassiïvka (Ukraine) (AFP) – © 2023 AFP