In these words, an energy worker named Oleg of one of the thermal power plants of DTEK described his emotions to the journalists of the Associated Press.
“It hurts me so much to watch all this. This is inhuman stress. We carried this station in our arms like a child,” he said.
The plant that AP’s team visited has been struck repeatedly and heavily damaged. It still powers thousands of homes and industries, but its output is down significantly from pre-invasion levels, its workers say.
All parts of the facility bear scars. Missile fragments are scattered around, left where they landed by workers too busy to clear up. Workers say their families send them off to their shifts with the words: “May God protect you.”
“We have no fear,” Mykola said. “We’re more scared for the equipment that is needed to provide light and heat.”
“As long as there is equipment that can be repaired, we will work,” said the director of the plant that a team of Associated Press journalists got rare access to.
“The station is like an organism, each organ in it has some significance. But too many organs are already damaged,” said Oleh.
“The russians are bombing and we are rebuilding, and they are bombing again and we are rebuilding. We really need help. We can’t handle it here by ourselves,” Oleh said. “We will restore it as long as we have something to repair it with.”
Read more here – Associated Press.
Photo: Evgeniy Maloletka
