NikVesti presented a documentary about Afanasiivka flooded after Kakhovka hydroelectric power station explosion in Mykolaiv

Lesia Bakalets, director of the film «Water will be here tomorrow» about flooded Afanasiivka, photo by NikVesti

On Thursday, 5 June, a screening of the documentary «Water will be here tomorrow» by journalist Lesia Bakalets took place in Mykolaiv. The audience was shown a film about the consequences of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station explosion that took place two years ago on 6 June.

The screening was organised by the online media NikVesti.

The film tells the story of the village of Afanasiivka in Mykolaiv region, which experienced an eight-month occupation and subsequent flooding and contamination of drinking water sources due to the explosion of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station by Russian troops in the summer of 2023. For a long time, volunteers have been delivering water to local residents, but the issue of access to safe drinking water remains a pressing one.

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«This film was particularly impressive because it is about a village in our region — Afanasiivka. Its story of losing water and homes resonates with Mykolaiv, which has been living without river water for three years now,» said Oleh Dereniuha, head of the online media outlet NikVesti.

The film's director, Lesia Bakalets, who also attended the screening, told the audience how she came up with the idea to make a film about this particular village and answered questions from the audience.

«I am very pleased that we are holding this screening in Mykolaiv, my hometown. Last year, I was looking for material for the Voice of America to mark the anniversary of the Russians' explosion of the Kakhovka HPP, and environmentalists I know drew my attention to this small village of Afanasiivka. They say that people there have no water at all. I thought, so what, my parents are without water too, they were very surprised. But when I went there, I realised that I needed to shoot not only a reportage, but something much more,» said Lesia Bakalets.

The village of Afanasiivka in Snihurivka district is surrounded by lakes and a river, so water is of great importance to the villagers.

«On the one hand, it is a huge disaster that destroyed every fifth house. And you know how we build houses in the south: they are all made of straw and clay, and they take a very long time to dry. And people still can't return to their homes. So, water is grief, misery and destruction. On the other hand, the entire wave that came from the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station reached Afanasievka as polluted as possible, it was literally coffins, oil stains, some kind of waste. And every possible source in this village, including the wells, is still contaminated. It's so contaminated that you can't even water the cows with this water, you can't even water them. And so, at the same time, water is the greatest luxury. The third aspect is that they were also under occupation for 8 months. And despite all this, my protagonist does not lose her optimism, she loves orchids, you will see how she saved them there. She wants to rebuild the houses, and the whole village just lives in the hope that they will have water someday,» said Lesia Bakalets.

The film was made for the online media NikVesti as part of the «Documentary Lab» project by the Media Development Foundation with the financial support of the Czech Embassy in Ukraine. The film was screened at the Ukrainian-Danish Youth House in Mykolaiv.

Film poster «There will be water tomorrow»

Lesia Bakalets is a native of Mykolaiv. From 2004 to 2010, she studied at the Institute of Journalism at Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv, and later worked for such media platforms as Radio Liberty, Channel 5, 1+1 in Kyiv. From 2017 to 2023, she worked for «Voice of America» in Washington, DC. In 2023, she moved to Warsaw. As a native of Mykolaiv, she understands the problems of local residents well, as her family has been living in conditions similar to those in Afanasiivka for three years.

See also the report «Afanasiivka. What has changed in the year since the flooding of the village in Mykolaiv region?»

Photo report

Photo: Darina Melnychuk