Kiev unleashes ‘hydraulic warfare’

The technique is so old that the Dutch already used it in 1585 against the Spanish Tercios in Flanders. Focused on defending Kiev at all costs, the Ukrainians have reportedly declared ‘hydraulic warfare’ on Russia, flooding the fields near the capital in order to slow down the advance of the invading troops and force their armor to take wide detours so as not to get stuck in the mud. At least, this is what is clear from the satellite photographs taken by an American company published yesterday by ‘The Washington Post’. They show large terraces to the north of the city, along the Dnieper River, full of lagoons. A surface that only a week ago was dry.

Logic invites us to think that the Ukrainians have resorted to the Dutch tactic – and many civilizations up to the Romans used it long before the Netherlands – to shield a capital that symbolizes resistance to invaders. Analysts consulted by the aerospace firm maintain that the flooded lands are the result of a deliberate action, presumably because of the imminence of a large-scale offensive. The strategy would consist of making one of the most fragile flanks of the Kiev perimeter impassable: a series of flat surfaces, located several kilometers away, almost without obstacles, latticed with roads and difficult to fortify with barricades.

A river, a defense

About forty kilometers away is also what is considered the great Russian war machine, that formidable column made up of battle tanks, battleships and other military vehicles with which the Kremlin would have proposed an overwhelming occupation of the capital. Although its effectiveness is now in question in view of the problems and the slow progress.

Why a ‘hydraulic war’? A first answer is that the stratagem responds to a well-designed planning of the defense of Kiev, which until now has been impenetrable to the Russian military. Another also plausible points to a desperate action by the Ukrainians given the difference in means with their enemy. Some military checkpoints are already facing a shortage of supplies, the Defense Ministry admitted this past weekend.

“When you are defending, you try to use what you have: walls, trenches, fortresses and bunkers. But we often forget that rivers, swamps and defensive lines based on water can also be used, “explains analyst Marta Kepe to the ‘Washington Post. In her opinion, the Ukrainians would use their knowledge of the terrain and the proximity of the Dnieper to create a natural barricade and the necessary mud to bog down the soldiers and their vehicles.

Paradoxically, this tactic is an old acquaintance of Russia and it is conceivable that President Vladimir Putin has read about it in his country’s war history. The Soviet Union, in addition to the Netherlands, Finland and Norway, resorted to breaking dikes and overflowing rivers during World War II to stop the advance of the Nazi Army.