Even two months into the battle against its smaller neighbour, the invading Russian army has had scant success in Ukraine.
While most of the pushback against the Kremlin has been attributed to the Ukrainian army’s fierce resistance-which has been helped by western weaponry-the country’s inhabitants have also played a part in slowing Russian advances into Kyiv.
Intentional flooding of towns leading to Kyiv is one such desperate attempt to secure a “tactical victory” over Moscow.
According to The New York Times, Demydiv villagers’ actions have halted a Russian tank attack on Kyiv and given the army valuable time to deploy defences.
Despite the fact that the water caused chaos in the hamlet, the inhabitants of Demydiv, a community north of Kyiv, are happy to believe that the strategic gain outweighs their sufferings.
The US newspaper described Antonina Kostuchenko, a retiree whose living room is now a musty area with water lines a foot or so up the walls, as saying, “Everyone understands and nobody regrets it for a second.”
“We saved Kyiv,” stated another local.
My fellow Ukrainians have flooded the village Demydiv along with the fields around it. This has created a swamp that gave the Ukrainian army time to prepare the defense of Kyiv. Ordinary citizens, who behave as heroes. No regrets, just a willing to win. Bravery is in our DNA. pic.twitter.com/RjS4GerrqN
— Mykhailo Fedorov (@FedorovMykhailo) April 28, 2022
The tactic comes at a huge cost to the country’s civilian infrastructure, but Demydiv locals believe it is a small price to pay to preserve their homeland from a Russian army with superior troops and firepower.
The manoeuvre was extremely effective, resulting in the formation of a wide, shallow lake in front of the Russian tank columns.
The flooding was crucial in the March combat, when Ukrainian forces rejected Russian efforts to envelop Kyiv and subsequently pushed the Russians out.
The waterways acted as a strong barrier for tanks, funnelling the attack force into ambushes and constricted urban settings in a string of peripheral towns: Hostomel, Bucha, and Irpin.
Demydiv is not the first Ukrainian hamlet that has resorted to self-destruction in order to thwart Russian invaders.
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