Workers at Ukrainian power plant repair damage from Russian missiles as attacks increase

(29 Nov 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Undisclosed, Ukraine - 28 November 2024
1. Various of destroyed power plant block
2. Wide of power plant workers walking
3. Closeup of drops falling on floor
4. Mid of fire barrel
5. Various of 41-year-old power unit operator Dmytro sitting in his work place
6. Closeup of sandbags protecting the unit
7. SOUNDBITE (Ukrainian) Dmytro (surname not given), power unit operator:
"Of course I have a fear, every person has it, you cannot be prepared for it somehow. (During the attack) You just say thank you that everything is fine, and then you look at what to do next. But we are not sending anyone anywhere immediately, because no one knows if there will be more attacks. Usually we sit, run behind the shields, hide under the panels."
8. Closeup of the remote control
9. SOUNDBITE (Ukrainian) Dmytro (surname not given), power unit operator:
"Tears come to my eyes, because my father worked here all his life, and I don't know any other job. I started working here immediately after the institute."
10. Closeup of power plant unit worker
11. SOUNDBITE (Ukrainian) Dmytro (surname not given), power unit operator:
“Who’ll do it, if not us? I also have family waiting for me at home, but if we all leave and the equipment breaks down, the responsibility will be on our shoulders. The entire city will lose electricity and heating. This is already the situation. Someone at the front is also risking his life, and we are here, we have our own energy frontline."
12. Various of power plant workers repairing energy blocks
13. Closeup of a metal piece cut by shrapnel
14. SOUNDBITE (Ukrainian) Oleksandr, head of the Production Management Department:
"Winter is the most effective period for the enemy in terms of destroying the power system. Therefore, we enter winter and understand that all attacks will be before winter, during winter, or in some cold period after winter."
15. Various of destroyed power plant energy block
16. SOUNDBITE (Ukrainian) Oleksandr, head of the Production Management Department:
"People see that blocks are being restored, works are being carried out, we are moving. Yes, they (Russians) are destroying us, but we are not standing either. That is why our people have fire in their eyes."
17. Various of workers repairing power plant equipment
18. Wide of used fire extinguishers
19. Various of burnt transformer after Russian attack
20. Closeup of rocket pieces
STORYLINE:
On a bright winter’s day, workers at a Ukrainian thermal power plant repair its heavily damaged equipment as drops of water from melted snow leak through gaping holes in its battered roof.

Weeks earlier, the facility was the target of a Russian air attack that left scorch marks, shrapnel scars on the walls, and missile fragments scattered across the production floor.

“"Winter is the most effective period for the enemy in terms of destroying the power system,” Oleksandr, 52, head of the Production Management Department, told The Associated Press.

He spoke on condition that only his first name be used citing security concerns.

Repeated Russian strikes on infrastructure have seriously impacted Ukraine's energy sector often resulting in rolling blackouts across the country.

On Thursday, Moscow launched another large-scale air attack. Ukrainian authorities said nearly 200 drones and missiles targeted infrastructure, disrupting power supply to more than a million people.

The scale of the ongoing work to fix the sector is huge.












They know the protocols by heart.










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