Five days after the dam explosion, on the Russian-held shore of the Dnieper delta, the water is beginning to drop in places, but between the mines washed away by the waters and the artillery exchanges, the evacuations of civilians in distress are very risky.
From our special correspondent on the right bank of the Dnieper delta,
” Here, it’s a disaster, we have water and we have gunfire. It’s terrifying. “Here” is Hola Prystan, a small town in the Dnieper delta, a former little paradise with manicured rose gardens and abundant fruit. Now it smells of mold and the salt of the ocean which mixes with stagnant brackish water. ” It’s everyday, it’s been like that for so long. We’re used to being shot at says Svetlana, standing with her friend and neighbor Ira in front of what remains of her water-damaged home. To tell what they have just experienced, the words jostle each other, they interrupt each other. Svetlana resumes: People are evacuated during the bombardments. Yesterday in Krasnoarmeyskaya a bus arrived to take people away, and the boat brought a young pregnant woman. They pulled her out of the water, took her to the vehicle. While the rescuers were treating the other people, there was a shelling. Two people died and the pregnant woman lost her arm. It shoots all the time “.
After the explosion of the dam very early on Tuesday, everything went very quickly, including as far as this village in the Dnieper delta downstream from Nova Kakhova ” Tuesday noon there was no water “says Ira. ” Wednesday morning, we were already almost all under water, half the city was flooded. Our neighborhood began to be overwhelmed and that very evening we couldn’t even recognize the houses. Now that the water has started to recede, the most important thing is that there is no wind blowing from the sea, because if it does, we will be flooded again “.
Svetlana and Ira are preparing to try to find bread to supply neighbors still on their roof when suddenly they spot a buzzing noise. Barely a few meters in the air, a drone. Quickly, without thinking, they take refuge under thick trees… Because that too, they are used to it.
In an alley, a hundred meters further, we come across a man, his feet in the muddy water, the strap of his inflatable boat in his hand, preparing to jump on the liquid, dark surface. ” The center of the city ? he throws, but it’s not even a lake anymore, it’s an ocean. “. Despair, rage and determination pass in a fraction of a second in his gaze. He says he himself evacuated his wife and children the day before. That day, he prepares to return there, try to reach his cat and his dogs to bring them back to dry land, and ” save what’s left of our house, well if there’s anything left “, he lets go. Except that he will not even have time to try his luck: a violent shot, very close, shows that danger is lurking. Much too close for an hour’s journey on the waves.
“People need to be extra careful when walking or browsing”
During this time, the rescuers in rotation scan the water from very early in the morning. ” We do our job knowing that there are mines. We tread carefully, trying to avoid risks, says Gennadiy Alekseyevich, head of rescuers in this region administered and held by the Russians. We have no way of fully verifying, as the mines are under water. We try as much as possible to make a visual observation “. Everyone here has it in mind: the tons of water from the dam have not only swept over the villages, but also over the Russian defense lines, and they are now carrying these machines of death. ” The mines were placed under the ground, and when the water came, it moved them and carried them with the flow. Sometimes the mines end up staying in a specific place, but sometimes a new wave moves them again “, explains Mikhail, of the local emergency services. ” We need specialists who will search for them and special equipment to find them. In the meantime, people should be extra careful when walking or browsing. They should look wherever they put their feet and where they are heading. »
A man in a van calls out to him: Can I wait here for my disabled wife who is being evacuated? “. Behind him, a handful of vehicles. Mikhail grows impatient: Guys, you need to hide your cars! I have already told you ! Go park further, where I told you! “. For several hours, Mikhail has been telling them not to stay together: Lots of drones fly here. If they see a gathering they can drop a bomb » .
Friday afternoon, June 9, a few kilometers from the banks of Kherson, it was not the brackish smell of the river that invaded the nostrils, but the pungent smell of smoke. Above the river, the artillery fire is almost continuous, and despite the humidity, it sometimes ignites trees and groves.