BBC: Ukraine fights to keep the lights on as russia hammers power plants

• russia mounted its second mass energy infrastructure attack in less than two weeks.
• Ten such attacks this year have placed an enormous burden on the entire energy system.
• DTEK will receive €107 million of energy aid from the US and EU

"Some are defending the frontlines on the battlefield. We have our own energy front to defend." – said Oleksandr, one of our energy workers, speaking to BBC News in an article published Friday, 29^th November.

The report describes the aftermath of recent renewed missile and drone attacks on Ukraine’s energy system by russia: “With another Ukrainian winter arriving, the vast turbine hall is full of activity. Engineers, dwarfed by the enormous scale of the place, repairing what they can, removing what they can’t, after a recent russian air strike hit this facility.”

As winter arrives, the piece highlights the difficult conditions now facing DTEK’s frontline energy workers: “Amid the monstrous heaps of twisted metal, pools of congealed oil and walls pockmarked by shrapnel, one incongruous detail catches my eye. Patches of snow. Inside a thermal power station.

“In one corner of the turbine hall, under a gaping hole in the roof, workers warm their hands over a makeshift brazier.”

The article highlights DTEK’s announcement on Monday that the European Commission and US Government have together contributed €107 million for the ‘winterisation’ of DTEK’s thermal power plants, use to provide vital equipment to protect from snow, rain and sub-zero temperatures.

Read the full story on the BBC website.
Photo by BBC/Joe Phua.