With the outbreak of war, the Kinburn Spit found itself in the most difficult situation of all the seaside resorts of Ukraine. Due to its proximity to the front line, remoteness from administrative centers (both Ukrainian and occupational), Kinburn and its residents were left face to face with constant fires, writes Nadzvichayni Novyny.
The edge of the Kinburn Spit in the pre-war years was a popular holiday destination for Ukrainians who preferred secluded leisure in a wooded area near the sea.
Thanks to the Nibulon berth built here, regular transportation was carried out to this place by comfortable hydrofoils from Mykolaiv and Ochakov.
Due to their popularity, the beaches around the pier have been landscaped. There was infrastructure here - cafes, beach attractions, awnings, umbrellas, sun loungers, showers, toilets, and garbage cans. Now all this is gone - everything is destroyed and burned.
The central part of the Black Sea coast of the Kinburn Spit near the village of Pokrovka was not so popular among mass tourists, but lovers of informal recreation chose it. Artists, musicians, hippies, nudists and just lovers to live in a tent on the beach, jeepers, bikers. Before the capture of Crimea in 2014, many of those who rested in Bald Bay, Fiolent, Tarkhankut or Mangup began to come to Pokrovka.
Since the beginning of a full-scale war, fires on the Kinburn Spit continue daily. The forest around three villages - Pokrovka, Vasilievka, and Pokrovsky farms - was completely burned out.
According to an employee of the local forestry, who asked not to be named, as of August 3, 1,600 hectares of pine forests had already burned down. The main sights of Kinburn - "Herodot's Forest", "Volyzhin Forest" and "Pushkin's Oak" have so far managed to be saved from fire by the efforts of residents and forestry.
According to a Facebook post by local activists, on August 1, forestry workers put out the fire from morning to 9 pm and managed to save large forest areas. Forestry workers have been working in this mode for four months.
Absolutely everything in Pokrovka is covered with ashes. There the situation in Vasilievka village even worse.
At the coast of the Kinburn Spit, the surface of the water is covered with ash and pieces of burnt bark. There is smoke and the smell of burning in the air; there is nowhere to hide from it.
For the indigenous inhabitants of the Kinburn Spit, these forests are dearer than life. They were planted on clean sand by the efforts of the local forestry, the grandfathers of the current residents in the middle of the last century. At that time, this work brought many foresters to the grave since poisons, dangerous to humans, were used in the USSR. Now their grandchildren are risking their lives and health, saving the Kinburn Forest from destruction.
The small population of the Kinburn Spit is now in conditions where the salvation of drowning people is the business of drowning people. Because only they are able to put out forest fires, there is no one else. In occupation, without income, without the supply of food, without even the opportunity to leave.
