After the destruction of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant, scientists expected that the area of the drained Kakhovka Reservoir might be covered with vegetation, but they did not expect such speed and scale.
This was told by ecologist Vadym Manyuk during a panel discussion at the INSCIENCE Conference 2025.
“The many years of experience of those scientists who study floodplain ecosystems is confirmed by what is happening there now, but unexpectedly in terms of scale. That these willows will not be isolated spots, but immediately the entire former water area. This is tens of thousands of hectares of a completely new forest. It was difficult to predict”, – Manyuk said.
According to him, scientists saw the first plants already two months after the destruction of the hydroelectric power plant and the reservoir.
“An absolutely boundless green sea in place of the former water. It’s something incredible in terms of scale, really”, – the ecologist recalls.
According to the latest data from scientists, as of 2025 the willow forest on the bottom of the Kakhovka Reservoir reaches almost eight meters in height.
Recall, the dam of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant, which was located near the now-occupied city of Nova Kakhovka in the Kherson region, was destroyed on June 6, 2023. On June 18, the Kakhovka Reservoir had effectively ceased to exist.
As a result of the explosion almost 10 thousand hectares of wetlands of international importance were destroyed.
According to ecologist Yakov Didukh, the area of the former Kakhovka Reservoir may become the largest willow massif in Europe.