The latest Russian missile attacks on the energy sector of Ukraine on November 17 and 28 increased the risk of prolonged outages in the middle of winter. About this reported the agency Reuters.
Journalists of the publication spoke with employees of one of the power plants in Ukraine. Even when Russian missiles are already flying, a few workers remain above ground in a control room protected by sandbags to manually operate the system, they said.
The facility, whose location energy officials asked Reuters to withhold for security reasons, was hit by missiles this year in an airstrike on the grid, which Russia restored this month as the war entered its third winter.
"When there is shelling, we stay here, even though we know that rockets are coming at us... To say that we are not afraid is not true, because we are all alive, normal people and we are afraid." - says 52-year-old Serhiy.
Outside the control center is a huge engine room, the walls of which have holes and extensive damage from missile strikes, the last of which was on November 17. Missile parts lay on the floor, twisted metal sheets were stacked on the side, and broken pieces of equipment were lying around. Workers in dirty overalls were repairing the damaged power unit.
The facility, which normally provides electricity and heat to hundreds of thousands of people, has been undergoing major repairs for most of the year, but the November attacks prompted even more urgent repairs.
Overall, Ukraine repaired some of its energy infrastructure that was destroyed in the spring and summer, putting it in what looked like an unexpectedly strong position for the coming winter, industry sources said. But now they say the damage from Nov. 17 and Nov. 28 has set them back significantly, raising the prospect of extended power outages and other outages in the dead of winter
"This is our front, some guys have a front in the east, our front is here. Our task is to ensure that our Ukraine has electricity, so that it works to its full potential." said Serhiy.
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