In previous years, people would just destroy the dams or hunt the beavers. Without any human annoyances, the beavers are now free to do what beavers do, build dams and flood areas.
Source: Business Insider
Local beavers are helping Ukraine defend itself from a potential new front in Russia's invasion, Reuters reported on Thursday.
The animals are unwittingly helping Kyiv by building dams that keep the ground marshy and impassable, a military spokesman told the agency.
This helps Ukraine by making it less likely that an attack could come via Belarus, which borders Ukraine not far north of the capital Kyiv.
Ukrainian officials had warned that Russia may wage an offensive through its ally Belarus into a region of Ukraine called Volyn.
Defense forces there, however, have been reassured by conditions on the ground, left impassable by miles of burst river banks, thick mud, and waterlogged fields.
The swampy conditions have given Ukrainians an advantage, and time to prepare: a local military unit called the Volyn territorial defense has been conducting daily training exercises in the area, according to Reuters.
