From the top: Oleksandr Syrskyi, Commander of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, pictured in Kyiv in March 2022, is reported to have approved the blowing of the Kozarovychi dam
“Oleksandrovich Oleksandr Volodymyrovych by order of the command of the Ground Forces of Ukraine, Major Kapelin M.V. I order to release water into the Irpin River from the Kyiv Reservoir.” – The logbook entry authorising the blowing of the Kozarovychi Dam1
KOZAROVYCHI DAM
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P
RIOR to the Russian invasion, Kyiv-based businessman Andriy [pseudonym] serviced government contracts from a network of workshops across Ukraine – making bespoke vehicles and fittings for military and special forces units fighting in the Donbas. A car enthusiast, he also managed a chain of civilian garages and organised off-road race meetings and competitions in the forests and rough terrain surrounding the capital. On the morning of the 24th February, following Russian missile strikes on Ukrainian targets, the entrepreneur put a message on Facebook calling for his friends and employees to come to a facility he owned in Kyiv.3 The group that gathered immediately began offering support to any military vehicles and drivers in need of assistance and focused on collecting information on the events unfolding. The following day, upon discovering that Russian forces had reached Demydiv, Andriy understood that the best way to slow the invaders was to flood the northeast-flowing Irpin River by breaching the dam where it joins the Dnipro River – 22 kilometres north of Kyiv and just south of the small village of 22
THE BRITISH ARMY REVIEW
Kozarovychi. Due to a height difference of approximately six metres – a by-product of the infrastructure at the Kyiv hydroelectric power plant – water has to be pumped from the Irpin to the Dnipro. Well-connected and with friends in senior government, Andriy worked
Dam logbook entry, provided to the field research team, February 2023.
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Two other important accounts are: Andrew Kramer, “They Flooded Their Own Village, and Kept the Russians at Bay,” New York Times, 27 April 2022, nytimes. com/2022/04/27/world/europe/ukraine-russia-warflood-infrastructure.html, accessed 9 November 2023; and Vincent Mundy, “Ukraine’s ‘hero river’ helped save Kyiv. But what now for its newly restored wetlands?” Guardian, 11 May 2022, theguardian.com/environment/2022/ may/11/ukraine-hero-irpin-river-helped-save-kyiv-butwhat-now-for-its-newly-restored-wetlands-aoe, accessed 9 November 2023.
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Interview with civilian 4 and civilian 35, February 2023.
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Ibid.
Interview with civilian (4 or 35 - not sure which is which), February 2023; and Wiebe de Jager, “How Military and Civilian Drones are used int eh Russo-Ukrainian War,” Drone Watch EU, 28 February 2022, dronewatch.eu/ special-how-military-and-civilian-drones-are-used-inukraine, accessed 9 November 2023.
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his contacts to secure a meeting with Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi, the commander of Ukraine’s ground forces.4 Before departing for the bunker from which General Syrskyi was orchestrating the defence of Kyiv, the businessman tasked his friend Vasyl [pseudonym] – a videographer experienced in using drones for film projects – to assess options at the dam. Like so many others, Vasyl leveraged his skills to support the war effort; using his piloting prowess to produce tactical information as part of an emerging army of civilian drone operators helping the military to protect the capital.5 Having persuaded an engineer to grant him access to the site and quickly discovering his first plan – reversing the flow of the dam’s pumps – was mechanically impossible, Vasyl, with others, attempted to breach the structure using a blowtorch, grinder and variety of other tools. However, with their methods mindful of the need to preserve the hard-to-repair pumps, which dated back to the 1960s, the would-be demolition team was left frustrated. Although unable to pierce a hole in the dam’s metal work, their endeavours at ‘sabotage’ did SPRING 2024