Sweden is joining Ukraine to document ancient Cossack sites that Russia's Kakhovka dam attack revealed. Both countries have signed a Memorandum of Cooperation to preserve the thousands of archaeological sites revealed after Russia's destruction of the Kakhovka dam, according to the Ukrainian Embassy in Sweden.
The massive flood that killed at least 100 people drained the reservoir that had submerged the Great Meadow (Velykyi Luh), historic heartland of the Zaporozhian Cossacks for nearly 70 years.
The Kakhovka dam, which Russia destroyed on 6 June 2023, was built by the Soviet Union in 1956. Its reservoir covered settlements, ancient burials, Ottoman-era fortresses, and Sich-era church sites.
The dam's destruction caused Ukraine's largest environmental disaster of the war, inflicting over $14 billion in damages, flooding 80 settlements.
What did drained reservoir uncover?
Ukrainian Embassy states that Russia's destruction of the Kakhovka dam in 2023 was a terrible humanitarian and environmental catastrophe for Ukraine. At the same time, "after the water receded, huge territories of the Great Meadow, which had been flooded for decades, were opened."
"Together with them — thousands of archaeological and historical monuments: ancient burials, settlements, ship remains, traces of various eras and wars," the diplomats said.
The drained territories remain an active war zone. Russian forces have been using the exposed reservoir bed as a staging ground for infantry maneuvers to try to bypass Ukrainian positions in Zaporizhzhia Oblast.
Deal: International Center for Great Meadow
The Memorandum of Cooperation unites three Ukrainian entities — the Zaporizhzhia Regional State Administration, Zaporizhzhia National University, and the Khortytsia National Reserve — with three Swedish museums (National Maritime, Transport, and Military) and the International Congress of Maritime Museums.
The partners plan to establish an International Center for Research and Preservation of the Great Meadow, to serve as a hub for scientific work, education, archaeological research, international cooperation, and post-war restoration.
The Ukrainian side framed the arrangement as an equal partnership rather than aid, offering scientific expertise and, in the embassy's phrasing, "unique experience of working in crisis conditions."
"The found monuments need urgent documentation, research, and preservation. It's about protecting memory that Russia is trying to destroy," the embassy said.
Amphion: signing at Sweden's greatest naval victory over Russia
The signing ceremony took place at Sweden's National Maritime Museum in Stockholm, with the preserved stern of the Amphion — King Gustav III's flagship during the 1788–1790 Russo-Swedish War — as the historical backdrop.
That war concluded with the Battle of Svensksund in July 1790, where a Swedish coastal fleet defeated a larger Russian force in the Gulf of Finland. It remains Sweden's greatest naval victory over the Russian Empire and preserved Swedish territorial integrity against Catherine the Great's expansionist campaign.
The Ukrainian embassy said the venue reflected the project's focus on shared European history and on countering Russia's attempts to erase Ukrainian cultural identity.
