Skip to content

← Home

Flooding of the Great Meadow

The Flooding of the Great Meadow (Velykyi Luh) is one of the largest cultural-historical and ecological tragedies of Ukraine in the 20th century, caused by the inundation of the Dnieper floodplains and Cossack heritage during the creation of the Kakhovka Reservoir in the 1950s.

Overview

During the construction of the Kakhovka Reservoir to provide water supply and irrigation for Southern Ukraine and the Crimean Peninsula, the Soviet authorities flooded a vast territory of the Lower Dnieper region. At the bottom of the so-called "Kakhovka Sea" ended up the Great Meadow — the sacred center of the Zaporozhian Cossacks, celebrated in Ukrainian folk songs and dumy (epic ballads). The flooding led to the irreversible loss of unique natural protected floodplains, as well as hundreds of ancient Cossack villages, winter homesteads, and historical monuments.

Key Details / Subtopics

  • Loss of Cossack heritage: At the bottom of the artificial sea ended up the territories of the ancient Zaporozhian Sich fortresses, celebrated Cossack floodplains, meadows, and tracts, as well as about 100 ancient Cossack villages, winter homesteads, and hamlets.
  • Rescue of Ivan Sirko's grave: Among the many destroyed shrines, only the grave of Ivan Sirko, the kish otaman of the Zaporozhian Host, was saved from destruction and flooding; it was reburied in the village of Kapulivka near Nikopol.
  • Destruction of the floodplain ecosystem: The Dnieper floodplains, flood-meadow lands, and lakes covered with primeval forests served as the natural filter ("lungs and kidneys") of the Dnieper and the Black Sea. The floodplains teemed with fish, game, and wildlife. According to eyewitness accounts, after the flooding, birds continued to circle over the reservoir for several years, searching for their former nesting grounds.
  • Social and moral damage: Thousands of Ukrainian families were forcibly resettled from their ancestral lands, dealing an irreparable blow to the traditional way of life and national memory.