Maps of Defence Lines
Hand embroidery, 2025
In this new series I cross-stitched the rivers of Ukraine – those that suffered the most from the war, but at the same time served as the strongest natural defense lines, delaying or preventing further advance of russian troops onto Ukrainian land.
Titular image and images below: Dnipro river, Kherson islands area, where endless fights are happening since the liberation of Kherson in November 2022, as russians are trying to re-occupy this city.
Below: Siverskii Donets river, Bilohorivka village area, where in May 2022 more than 70 russian military vehicles were destroyed as they tried to cross the river and gain control over strategic positions in Luhansk oblast.
Below: Vovcha river, Vovchansk town area, which russians struggled to cross during their new advance at Kharkiv oblast in summer 2024. By now the river serves as a border between russian-occupied and Ukrainian-controlled parts of this almost completely destroyed town.
Below on the left: Oskil river, Kupiansk area, which protects this strategic city in the South-East of Kharkiv region from re-occupation.
Below on the right: Irpin river, area of the village Moshchun and the town of Irpin, where in the very beginning of the full scale invasion Ukrainian army destroyed the bridges and partially flooded the area. This allowed to slow down russian advance at Kyiv region and prevent the siege of Ukraine’s capital.
Below: Dnipro river, Kakhovskii reservoir.
Kakhovskii reservoir was created artificially by soviets in 1950s by building the dam on the Dnipro river in Kherson oblast and flooding nearby territories. Among those was Velykii Luh (Great Meadow) - an area of the great importance for Ukrainian history, national identity and heritage, as for example 6 out of 8 Zaporizhzhian Sichs (Cossack fortified settlements from 16th-18th centuries) were located there. With flooding, all historical, cultural and archeological treasures, including ancestral cemeteries, disappeared under the water. Many believe still that this was a deliberate action committed by the Soviet government to erase Ukraine’s past and memory of its people. But also of course, these manipulations led to dramatic changes in the local ecosystems.
In 2023, russian army blew up Kakhovka Dam, causing the waters from Kakhovskii reservoir to flow down all the way to Dnipro delta. This deliberate and cynical war crime and act of ecocide caused flooding of more than 80 towns and villages, which resulted in hundreds of people loosing their homes, dozens dead and injured, countless animals drowned, and hectares of land permanently damaged. Kakhovskii reservoir is no more, and Dnipro river returned to its original riverbed. As a result, Great Meadow reemerged from underneath the water, and these days nature is slowly taking over it. However, this tragedy remains a huge wound on Ukraine - one of the biggest and most painful during the war.
In my embroidery, black thread marks the original Dnipro riverbed, while the red thread outlines Kakhovskii reservoir, as it was before the Dam destruction. Since 1950s, it was the bloody wound on Ukraine’s body, in 2023 it was opened again. I hope we have a chance to have it closed someday.
