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Russia targets Ukraine's energy grid as winter sets in. Here's how one plant copes
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Editor's note: This story is part of a series on Ukraine's energy industry under attack. Click here for a photo essay from Ukrainian coal country.
AT A UKRAINIAN POWER PLANT — Donning hard hats and thick uniforms, Lesia and Nadia sweep pulverized concrete out of a dark, broken room inside the thermal power plant where they've worked for years.
The women normally would be operating the conveyor belt that delivers coal, Ukraine's primary fuel source, to the plant's furnace. Instead they are clearing the conveyor belt's remains after a Russian missile attack earlier this year.
"I did not think this would ever be a dangerous job," Nadia says.
"We love our work," Lesia adds, "but we have a constant feeling of fear."
Lesia remembers the day of the attack, how everyone ran to the bomb shelter as the air raid siren blared.
"We stayed there a long time, like three hours," she says. "We hoped the missile would hit somewhere else. But it came right at our plant. We heard the explosions from the shelter."
For months now, she and her colleagues have returned to the plant every day to fix it and help keep the lights and heat on as winter sets in.
A new reality
This plant is owned by DTEK, Ukraine's largest private energy supplier. It says Russia has attacked its facilities nearly 200 times since the Russian invasion in February 2022. Much of the company's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed.
The company requested that NPR not disclose either the plant's location or the last names of workers to avoid giving Russian forces any information that might help target the energy company workers and facilities.
Russian strikes on Ukraine's energy grid have been so frequent this year that they have knocked out more than half of Ukraine's energy-generating capacity. On Nov. 28, after Russia's 11th mass attack on Ukraine's energy infrastructure this year, Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened to strike again with a new ballistic missile that has nuclear capabilities.
To cope with the attacks, Ukraine has turned to emergency imports of electricity from neighboring countries and enacted rolling blackouts. Homes and businesses have backup generators on hand.
In Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, Yevhen Hutman, a 40-year-old investment analyst for startups, says most people are prepared for power outages.
"Nobody wants this tough winter," he says. "We have our power banks. We have all the stuff we need to, for example, work from home. But yeah, it's tiring."
Anastasiia Shalukina, a 25-year-old nonprofit worker, has backup power at home and carries a tourniquet when she goes out due to frequent attacks.
"When I'm going abroad, when I hear fireworks," she says, "I [get] a panic attack."
"We had to get used to it"
The power plant NPR is visiting has already been attacked several times, according to plant manager Oleksandr.
"There was a lot of panic the first time," he says. "We are civilians, we aren't trained to deal with this. After the first couple of strikes, though, it became clear that this was not going to end, and we had to get used to it."
Oleksandr walks us through the vast grounds of the plant on a chilly, rainy day. Everyone is busy repairing something or clearing parts of buildings damaged by Russian strikes. There are teams on cranes, and crews on the muddy ground.
Vasyl, another manager, who is in charge of repairs, sidesteps a pile of crushed bricks and says that his team had only been trained for routine maintenance.
"Now they mainly fix or replace equipment damaged by missiles," he says. "Boilers, turbines, generators, and also equipment that provides fuel supply. All this needs to be restored."
His staff, he says, is learning as they go, following safety precautions in case something collapses.
Nearby, another crew in heavy protective gear is repairing the plant's outdoor switchyard, which connects the station to the transmission network. The crew's leader, Andriy, asks NPR's team to stay back to avoid getting electrocuted.
"We restored and replaced all those wires there," he says, pointing. "You can see the new ones. Everything was damaged when the missile exploded overhead."
Aided by allies
This scene is playing out at power plants all over Ukraine. Energy officials say the damage likely would have been much worse if Ukraine didn't have support from allies like the European Union and the United States.
In October, EU lawmakers approved loaning Ukraine 35 billion euros ($38 billion), financed by interest from frozen Russian central bank assets. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that one of his top priorities was to rebuild Ukraine's energy network.
The EU and the U.S. have also donated air defense systems that shoot down Russian drones and missiles.
Meanwhile, Ukrenergo, Ukraine's state-run energy company, has used materials like concrete and rebar supplied by the U.S. Agency for International Development to build shelters shielding the most critical energy equipment. USAID Administrator Samantha Power, who has traveled to Ukraine several times since Russia's 2022 invasion, examined one of these structures during a visit in October.
"What we have learned over this very difficult wartime period is that there is no panacea for Putin's brutality, no inoculation," she told NPR then.
"But if something slips past air defense, if the Ukrainians are not able to shoot down a drone or a missile, this type of physical protection — the concrete, the rebar, the mesh — has made a profound difference in keeping energy online," she added.
It's not clear the U.S. will continue supporting Ukraine once the Trump administration takes office. President Biden is trying to push through as much Ukraine aid as possible before his term ends.
In a September report by the Paris-based International Energy Agency, Ukraine had already lost about 70% of its thermal generation capacity since this spring due to Russian strikes or occupation. (The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which generated about a quarter of Ukraine's electricity supply before Russia's 2022 invasion, is under Russian control.) DiXi, a Ukrainian energy analytics group, predicts blackouts could last up to 20 hours a day if this winter is especially harsh.
A Sisyphean task
Meanwhile, the EU and U.S. recently earmarked a combined $112 million in energy equipment and building for DTEK, the private Ukrainian power company. The aid is supposed to help Ukraine continue to weather Russian strikes on energy infrastructure, the most recent of which was on Nov. 17.
"No country in modern times has faced such an onslaught against its energy system," DTEK CEO Maksym Timchenko said in a statement. "But with the help of our partners we continue to stand strong against Russia's energy terror."
Across Ukraine, workers continue the seemingly Sisyphean task of repairing power plants after each Russian attack.
At the DTEK plant visited by NPR, shattered windows are patched up with tarp. Buildings are scorched, with holes caused by missile shrapnel. Crews instead are focused only on fixing the equipment the plant needs to operate.
Petro, an amiable, bearded mechanic, is working with a team replacing the pipes pumping out coal waste.
"We have to finish before the frost, sooner even," he says. "As soon as possible."
At least before the next Russian strike.
Producers Hanna Palamarenko and Volodymyr Solohub contributed to this report.
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