Legends, Landscapes and the War of Symbols on the Kinburn Spit

Zarina Zabrisky on the powerful symbolism of Ukraine's recent strike against occupying forces on a piece of land steeped in history and myth.

The otherworldly beauty of the Kinburn Spit. Photo: Viktoriia Rogovenko via Wikimedia Commons

The Kinburn Spit, once a serene narrow strip of land in Southern Ukraine, known for its rich and unique ecosystems, was home to over 620 species of rare plants and the largest field of endangered wild orchids in Europe. With reed beds, willows, water lilies, and floating plant islands known as plavnys, it was a sanctuary of rare animals and served as a critical stopover for millions of migrating birds. This extraordinary variety read like the illuminated manuscript of an ancient bestiary: thrushes, white-tailed eagles, mute swans, pheasants, cranes, herons, and rare pink pelicans. Dolphins played its waters in the fall, hunting for mullet.

What was once a paradise is now a battleground.

The peaceful wetlands of the Kinburn Spit and the surrounding areas in the Kherson region have been transformed into a war zone. Russian artillery strikes are a nightly occurrence. Homes are turned to ashes. Local residents have also suffered from the Russian occupation, with reports of people being arrested, tortured, and kept in pits in the ground for extended periods. Silent but deadly, chemical weapons known as illuminating projectiles—nicknamed Lustra or chandeliers—light up the sky in a grotesque display, a twisted version of the crystal shining of the Northern Lights. Cluster bombs scatter jagged metal fragments across the landscape, like "flowers of evil" growing incongruously in the fields. The once-clear seawater along the coast is now covered in ash, and the forests, lakes, and wildlife of the Kinburn Spit face destruction. Fires that began in mid-April 2022 continue to burn, as firefighters cannot operate in the war zone.