{"id":19597,"date":"2024-11-29T08:50:59","date_gmt":"2024-11-29T08:50:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/?p=19597"},"modified":"2024-11-29T08:50:59","modified_gmt":"2024-11-29T08:50:59","slug":"ukraine-fights-to-keep-the-lights-on-as-russia-hammers-power-plants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/?p=19597","title":{"rendered":"Ukraine fights to keep the lights on as Russia hammers power plants"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"BBC\/JoeBBC\/Joe Phua<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Russia is targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure ahead of the brutally cold winter<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Amid the monstrous heaps of twisted metal, pools of congealed oil and walls pockmarked by shrapnel, one incongruous detail catches my eye.<\/p>\n

Patches of snow. Inside a thermal power station.<\/p>\n

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\u2019t, after a recent Russian air strike hit this facility.<\/p>\n

For security reasons, we\u2019re not allowed to say where we are or when the visit occurred. Nor can we describe the extent of the damage, or whether the plant is still working.<\/p>\n

Russia, we\u2019re told, collects every scrap of information in order to draw up its next target list.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, Moscow mounted its second mass attack on Ukraine\u2019s energy infrastructure in less than two weeks.<\/p>\n

Ten such attacks this year have placed an enormous burden on the entire energy system.<\/p>\n

Before the first of this month\u2019s attacks, on 17 November, Ukraine had already lost 9GW of generation capacity. That\u2019s about half of the power consumed during last winter\u2019s peak heating season.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"BBC\/JoeBBC\/Joe Phua<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Oleksandr says the workers don’t even have time to fix the walls and roof of the power plants<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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We\u2019ve been asked not to say if the plant we visited was among the latest targets on Thursday. But like others across the country, this decades-old facility has suffered multiple drone and missile strikes since Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion in February 2022.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s evidence of Russia\u2019s destructive intent everywhere.<\/p>\n

In one corner of the turbine hall, under a gaping hole in the roof, workers warm their hands over a makeshift brazier.<\/p>\n

Huge sheets of plastic have been draped over the machinery to protect it from the elements.<\/p>\n

“The conditions are tough,” says Oleksandr. We\u2019ve agreed not to identify him further.<\/p>\n

“We don\u2019t even have time to restore the main equipment, let alone the roof and walls. Everything gets destroyed again from one strike to the next.”<\/p>\n

Ukraine\u2019s western allies are trying to help.<\/p>\n

On Monday, DTEK, Ukraine\u2019s largest private energy company, said it had received \u00a389m ($113m) from the European Commission and US government to help restore capacity and protect vital equipment from snow, rain and sub-zero temperatures.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s an epic struggle for the exhausted men tasked with keeping Ukraine\u2019s lights on.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"BBC\/JoeBBC\/Joe Phua<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Even before the most recent Russian attack, Ukraine had lost 9GW of generating capacity<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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In the control room, shielded from the turbine hall by a wall of sandbags, Dmytro is taking a break.<\/p>\n

“Some are defending the frontlines on the battlefield,” he tells us. “We have our own energy front to defend.”<\/p>\n

But while the engineers from DTEK wrestle with the well-nigh impossible task of keeping one step ahead of Russia\u2019s relentless assault, the rest of the country is doing what it\u2019s been doing since the war began: adapting.<\/p>\n

With the full-scale invasion\u2019s third winter arriving, city streets are once again buzzing and roaring to the sound of generators small and large. The street lamps may be off, but shops and restaurants are brightly lit.<\/p>\n

Diesel fumes hang heavy in the chill winter air.<\/p>\n

In tower blocks, where power cuts put lifts out of action and prevent hot water from reaching the upper floors, residents already used to keeping power banks and flashlights to hand are starting to innovate.<\/p>\n

Some have invested in batteries and inverters for their homes, which kick in as soon as the power goes off.<\/p>\n

In a twenty-five storey block in Kyiv\u2019s Pozniaky neighbourhood, home to around 700 people, residents have clubbed together to install a larger system in the basement, powerful enough to keep a single lift operating and pump hot water to the upper floors.<\/p>\n

For Nataliya Andriyko, who lives on the 19th floor with her husband and pets, it\u2019s a blessing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a bizarre feeling,\u201d she tells me as we sit in a kitchen lit by a single battery-operated lamp.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s scary how happy I am just to have these basic needs. That I can take the dog downstairs in the lift rather than on foot in the dark. That I have water in the tap.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"BBC\/JoeBBC\/Joe Phua<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Even basic things like running water and a working lift cheer up people like Nataliya<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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After two hard winters, Nataliya is full of praise for her fellow residents.<\/p>\n

“We have a great group of people,\u201d she says. “People who are modern, who understand that something can be invented.”<\/p>\n

“Together, we\u2019re strong.”<\/p>\n

Dealing with power cuts is a national preoccupation, with people checking their phones to see when the next outage is due and pooling their resources to buy generators and solar panels.<\/p>\n

For the makers of the film \u201cZbory OSBB\u201d (which roughly translates as \u201cMeeting of the Homeowner\u2019s Association\u201d), it\u2019s also fertile ground for comedy.<\/p>\n

The film, which premieres early in December, shows a fractious group of residents bickering over the purchase of a generator, as winter approaches.<\/p>\n

“When you have more than 10 people and they need to find common ground, it\u2019s always partly funny,” says the movie\u2019s writer and producer, Ivan Melashenko.<\/p>\n

Some of the ideas, he said, emerged from the fevered conversations in his own apartment building\u2019s group chat.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s always a nightmare, because everybody has their own opinion and it\u2019s impossible to find a solution.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"BBC\/JoeBBC\/Joe Phua<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Ivan Melashenko has written a film about a row over buying a power generator for an apartment block<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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The premise of the movie – how to stay warm when Ukraine\u2019s bitter winter sets in \u2013 is hardly the stuff of comedy.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut when people are starting to have these clashes and conflicts, of course we have all the jokes you can imagine,\u201d Ivan says.<\/p>\n

He says audiences aren\u2019t looking for escapism – the war is the stark, inescapable backdrop – but they are looking for positive news.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s impossible to live in such dramatic and stressful conditions for three years without any positive emotions,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople need this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Additional reporting by Hanna Chornous<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Source: <\/em> www.bbc.com\u2026<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BBC\/Joe Phua Russia is targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure ahead of the brutally cold winter 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. With another Ukrainian winter arriving, the vast turbine hall is full […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19597"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19597\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpt.m2mbeta.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}