Utility workers risk lives to keep Ukraine out of the dark
KYIV—Utility workers in Ukraine are risking their lives as they battle to keep the lights as Russia repeatedly attacks the energy system.
The Associated Press (AP) interviewed several of the workers about their jobs and how they have changed since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine almost four years ago. All of them agreed to be photographed, but three spoke on condition only their first names be used because of heightened security concerns about their locations.
At least 160 workers have been killed and more than 300 wounded since the start of the war. Yet tens of thousands still head to work each day.
In the northern city of Chernihiv, Andrii Dzhuma has spent more than three decades replacing and repairing the same power lines he first helped build—when old wooden poles were swapped for new concrete ones and Ukraine was still part of the Soviet Union. Dzhuma has patched nearly 100 kilometers of damaged wires since the war began—not to modernize, but to restore what’s been shattered.
12-hour shifts
“Somehow, but we still give people light,” he said with a shy smile, acknowledging that he is proud of his work and of his colleagues.
“Better I become a target for Russia than civilians or soldiers,” said Bohdan Bilous, dressed in his work uniform as he repairs power lines in the northern town of Shostka in the Sumy region—one of the first cities plunged into blackout this season after heavy strikes.
His shifts are often 12 hours or more, sometimes under the buzz of drones, he said.
“If one hits me, of course, it’ll be sad for everyone. But I’ll be glad it wasn’t a child, or a residential building. In a way, it’s a kind of self-sacrifice.”
For Oleksandr Tomchuk, a repair and maintenance supervisor for substations in the Kyiv region, the work can call at any hour—even the middle of the night. The father of three lived through the Russian occupation of his village early in the war.
Perilous
“The main thing is that our soldiers hold the front so the Russians don’t come here. We’ll do everything to make sure people don’t freeze this winter.”
Friends often ask Mykhailo, a senior power unit engineer, whether he hides in a shelter during Russia’s bombardments.
“If all the turbine operators hid during attacks, there’d be no energy left,” he said, standing inside the machine hall of a thermal power plant. “We have to stay at our posts. Who else would do the job?”
Mykhailo has worked in the energy sector for 23 years and never imagined his daily reality could be so perilous. He was just a few meters away when a colleague was killed at his post after a Russian strike last year.
“I was simply luckier,” Mykhailo said quietly.
Oleksandr Leheda, a power line repairman, began working in the energy sector in 2019, a few years before Russia’s full-scale invasion. He remembers the war’s first months as the most terrifying, when crews had to work under artillery fire that reached the northern city of Chernihiv.
But even since Russian forces retreated, the job has remained dangerous, he said. Energy workers operate under the constant watch of explosive-laden drones that Russians launch. In October, two of his colleagues were killed when a Russian Lancet drone struck their vehicle as they returned from repair work.
“It’s scary to work near the Russian border,” he said. Every day in the morning, his wife repeats to him the same mantra: “Be careful,” “Easy,” and “Mind your step.”
Serhii Staroselskyi’s childhood dream of working in the energy sector came true in 2010. When Russia’s invasion began, he was a line worker. Now he’s a section supervisor who often travels to border areas.
Sometimes his team takes cover in basements during shelling, then goes back out to finish repairs.
