Battle for Irpin | If Russia did not capture Kiev and Ukraine, Irpin did not have that river! Irpin did not wait for Ukraine without Russia capturing Kiev
Published: April 01 , 2024 10:47 AM IST
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Two years ago, Russia launched a massive offensive and invasion to capture the region that includes the capital city of Ukraine, Kiev. But this series of attacks that lasted for more than a month could not subdue Kiev. Ukraine is celebrating the second anniversary of the expulsion of the Russian army from the Kiev region. A river also played a role in powering them to this crucial achievement. Irpin River.
The flood happened because the Ukrainian army opened the dam. As a result, the Irpin river flowing through the region overflowed its banks, submerging the village and destroying thousands of acres of residential and agricultural land. This move was to stop the advancing Russian forces and the deployment of weapons including tanks despite the losses incurred. This event played a crucial role in preventing Russia from advancing through Demidyev to capture the capital, Kiev.
A Ukrainian citizen pays his respects by placing a Ukrainian flag at a monument built in Kiev for Ukrainian soldiers who died in the war. (Photo by Sergei SUPINSKY/AFP)
Heroic behavior
The Irpin River has thus gained a hero status among the people of Ukraine. In February 2022, when the war was in its first phase, the man-made flood in Demidiv took place. In the past, when Ukraine was a part of the Soviet Union, the Soviet authorities used to irrigate about 32,000 acres of wetlands here for agriculture.
This aerial photograph taken on April 24, 2022 shows a destroyed residential area in Irpin, northwest of Kyiv, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Genya SAVILOV / AFP)
It was not the first time that the Irpin River protected the capital city of Kiev. Thousands of years ago, during the early Kievan Rus' empire, tribal forces such as Pozhovtians and Pechenegs came to invade Kiev. But they could not advance due to the swampy areas of the Irpin River. Boreyko says that the Irpin River has been protecting the city from the earliest times.
Irpin River (Photo: Twitter/@tveitdal)
A biodiverse region known as the Amazon of Europe
In 1941, during the Second World War, Ukraine defended itself against Nazi Germany with the help of the Irpin River. Officials of the National Museum of Natural History of Ukraine say that before the Soviet development activities, the Irpin river basin was a biodiverse area known as the Amazon of Europe. There were many rare fish including giant catfish, sturgeon and many birds like white tailed eagle.
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