Kiev: Miners in the depths of southeastern Ukraine continuously mine coal to fuel the nation's war effort and supply light and heat to civilians.
Following a 6-month Russian military campaign to destroy power plants and other infrastructure, the chief engineer of a mining company in the Dnipropetrovsk province stated that coal is essential to supplying Ukraine's energy needs.
The company's employees are transported underground by lift to the mine's depths. From there, they drive large equipment to extract the coal and transport the priceless resource above ground. The miners claimed that although it is challenging work, it is necessary to maintain the nation.
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Oleksandr, the chief engineer, who, like all the coal miners interviewed, spoke on condition of only using his first name for security reasons, said that the nation's energy independence is now more than just a priority.
As the war drags on for a second year, Russia's attacks on Ukraine's nuclear, thermal, and other power plants continue to disrupt electricity service.
The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, which the Kremlin's forces seized last year at the start of the full-scale invasion, cannot be demilitarised due to a deadlock in negotiations. The plant is Europe's largest nuclear energy facility, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky opposes any plan that would give Russian control of it legal standing.
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The plant has a maximum output of 6,000 megawatts of electricity. The plant's Ukrainian owners shut down the final reactor in September, claiming it was unsafe to keep operating while Russia was bombing the neighbourhood.
The plant has been shelled numerous times, leading to worries about a potential nuclear meltdown. The power lines required to run essential cooling equipment at Zaporizhzhia and other nuclear plants in Ukraine have also come under threat from Russian missiles.
Prior to the conflict, the Ukrainian government intended to increase production of nuclear energy and natural gas while reducing the nation's reliance on coal-fired power plants, which contribute to global warming. But Oleksandr noted that coal played a role in keeping Ukrainian homes warm when Russian attacks in the dead of winter damaged thermal plants.
While coal miners' labour cannot entirely make up for the energy lost in nuclear power plants, every megawatt they contribute to generating helps close gaps.
A miner by the name of Serhii said, "We come and work with optimism, trying not to think about what is going on outside the mine." "We work while grinning and don't think about it. And once we depart, a new life of survival and everything else starts for us.
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Nearly 150 displaced workers from other coal-producing areas in the east joined the team in Dnipropetrovsk, despite the fact that many local miners joined the military when Russian troops invaded and are now engaged in combat at the front in eastern Ukraine.
Yurii, a 20-year coal miner, left the troubled town of Vuhledar in the Donetsk province. Naturally, the war drastically altered his life, he admitted. There, as well as the mine where I used to work, it is now impossible to live.