In Ukraine, peasants are devastated by the bursting of the Khakovka Dam, the story of Figaro’s Special Envoy.

Kherson and Mykolaev Special Envoy

All that was left to Svetlana and her husband, Vassily, were their dairy cows. Again, they can no longer return to the barn to be milked. Their home on the banks of the Inholets River on Afanasyvka Island, north of Kherson (southern Ukraine), was uninhabitable. Water seeps into floors, walls and even farm machinery. When the Khakovka dam burst on June 6, the water level around the village suddenly rose by six meters. “We packed as many things as possible into a trailer and quickly crossed the bridge that separated us from the mainland” 52-year-old Svetlana explains.

The bridge was washed away shortly after they left, and they had to sleep in a trailer with mattresses for three nights. Cows, scared, don’t dare to walk on some planks that are now a path. They graze in a field that has been cut where monitoring is needed…