Fight For Light | Online gallery

In wave after wave of drone, missile and artillery strikes, russia has targeted critical civilian infrastructure including power plants and electricity grids. Their aim: to cast the streets of Ukraine into darkness, from Kyiv to Lviv to Odesa.

As winter arrives, Ukraine's energy workers are battling to bring back heat and light for millions. This is Ukraine's energy frontline.

Bringing together works by some of Ukraine's most celebrated documentary photographers, Fight for Light gives an unprecedented view inside the power stations hit by russian attacks , gives a glimpse of the lives of ordinary Ukrainians facing a dark and difficult winter , and introduces the heroes who refuse to back down.

DTEK engineers brave smoke and dust to salvage what remains of their former workplace.

Evgeniy Maloletka, 2024

A power unit in a DTEK thermal power plant lies in ruins following a Russian missile attack.

Sasha Maslov, 2024

Power unit machinist Dmytro surveys the remains of a once-bustling control room.

Serge Serdiukov, 2024

Two DTEK engineers prepare to remove a colossal transformer unit, scarred by multiple attacks.

Serge Serdiukov, 2024

Viewed through a shrapnel hole, engineers breathe life back into a damaged power plant.

Serge Serdiukov, 2024

Power equipment stands silent and shattered.

Serge Serdiukov, 2024

A climber joins power engineers in their mission to clear rubble from a strike-ravaged power plant.
© UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine / Anastasiia Honcharuk

Anastasiia Honcharuk, 2024

At a damaged power plant, the extent of russia’s destruction is revealed.

Serge Serdiukov, 2024

A thermal power plant is reduced to a bare skeleton in a single drone and missile strike.

Serge Serdiukov, 2024

Exposed pipework, rubble and damaged equipment is all that remains of a once-active plant.

Serge Serdiukov, 2024

Looking up through layers of destruction reveals a seemingly insurmountable challenge of restoration.
© UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine / Anastasiia Honcharuk

Anastasiia Honcharuk, 2024

Yury, a fitter who repairs steam-gas turbine equipment.

Serge Serdiukov, 2024

Mechanics Maksym and Andriy with Dmytro, an electric-gas welder.

Serge Serdiukov, 2024

Oleg, shift manager, with Murka, a resident cat and survivor of multiple rocket attacks.

Serge Serdiukov, 2024

Maksym, a mechanic with the repair and production team.

Serge Serdiukov, 2024

Olga Klimenko, crane foreman.

Serge Serdiukov, 2024

Serhii, a power unit machinist.

Serge Serdiukov, 2024

Cars illuminate a dark road beneath the Mother Ukraine monument in Kyiv.

Serhii Korovainyi, 2023

A kiosk in Zhytniy Market, Kyiv, during a power outage.

Mykhailo Palinchak, 2023

After a russian attack, 13-year-old Artur is stretchered up six flights of hospital stairs by torchlight to receive treatment. His arm was later amputated.

Mstyslav Chernov, 2023

At the Ukrainian Children’s Cardiac Centre, Dr Ilya and his surgical team operate in the dark.

Serhii Morhunov, for the Washington Post, 2023

During powercuts, generators provide the soundtrack to life in cities like Kyiv.

Yurko Dyachyshyn, 2023

A visitor uses a portable light to illuminate an exhibition at the Serhii Melnychenko school of photography.

Oleksandr Popenko, 2023

Credits

All photos presented with the kind permission of their photographers by DTEK:

Mstyslav Chernov
Yurko Dyachyshyn
Anastasia Honcharuk
Serhii Korovainyi
Sasha Maslov
Serhii Morhunov
Serhii Mykhalchuk
Mykhailo Palinchak
Oleksandr Popenko
Serge Serdiukov

With special thanks to:

Ukraine Civil Society Hub

EU Parliament

Maria Blyzinsky, The Exhibitions Team

Tristan Dellaway, Seeing Things

Ukrainian Association of Professional Photographers

UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine

IST Publishing

Agnum