Russian troops approach a power plant in Ukraine but the facility has already been ‘cannibalized’ by crews

As Russian forces Progress in the Donetsk region Since the early days of their large-scale occupation, they moved most quickly to the Ukrainian city of Kurakhove, about two kilometers from one of the country’s oldest thermal power plants.

Shortly after the Kurakhove coal-fired power station opened in 1941, workers were forced to hastily dismantle part of the plant in order to move critical infrastructure east before the Nazis swept in and occupied the area.

Last spring and summer, as Russia’s military closed in, hundreds of workers gathered on the field again to grab what they could and move equipment to western thermal power plants that desperately needed spare parts after waves of Russian attacks.

“We basically cannibalized Kurakhove,” said Pavlo Bilodid, who works in international communications at DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private energy provider.

“One solution was to save the equipment from further attacks and deliver it to other thermal power plants in Ukraine.”

The Kurakhove factory, which started operating in 1941, is one of the oldest facilities in Ukraine. During World War II, workers dismantled part of the building in order to move critical infrastructure east before the Nazis occupied the area. (Serhii Korovayny)

attack waves

Since March this year Ukraine’s energy grid suffered 11 major attacks by Russia. The most recent one occurred in the early hours of Thursday morning; Nearly 200 drones and missiles targeted areas across the country, leaving more than a million people without power in their immediate aftermath.

As temperatures drop with the arrival of winter, the danger of widespread power outages emerges if longer cold spells are accompanied by more waves of major attacks.

During the war, which began with Russia’s invasion of its neighbor in February 2022, almost half of Ukraine’s electricity generation capacity was destroyed, forcing energy workers to make repairs and continue operations under constant threat.

In July 2023, three workers died when the roof collapsed at the Kurakhove factory, which Ukrainian officials attributed to months of Russian attacks.

The ever-present danger for the more than 600 workers at the facility increased dramatically again in December 2023, when the plant’s manager, Anatoliy Borichevsky, said the facility was subject to heavy Russian bombardment almost daily.

“When the Russians saw the smoke coming out of the chimney and saw that the factory was starting to work, they immediately started bombing it,” he said. “The situation was quite tense.”

Anatoly Borichevskiy, director of the Kurakhove power plant, is seen at another power plant where he is currently working. The exact location is not disclosed for security reasons. (Serhii Korovayny)

decision to disband

In a Zoom interview with CBC News, Borichevskiy looked at his black book and said that between December 5, 2023, and January 17, 2024, the facility was shelled 38 times.

When the sirens sounded, some workers ran for shelter, but others had to stay and continue manning the control room.

For more than a month, he said, it was a dreary cycle as crews tried to make quick repairs only to find the facility damaged again.

Crews are trying to repair a thermal power plant damaged by a Russian missile attack at an undisclosed location in Ukraine on Thursday. (Glen Granich/Reuters)

That changed in March when the Russian military destroyed a railway bridge that made it impossible to transport coal to the power plant. It was too dangerous with the occupying troops some seven kilometers away and there was no point in trying to repair the line.

At that point, the discussion was no longer about repairing the facility, but about saving what they could.

Borichevskiy said he vividly remembers the day he met with managers at the facility and told them that everyone would now be tasked with dismantling part of the facility. They would remove critical equipment, including generators and transformers, badly needed elsewhere, including five other thermal power plants operated by DTEK that came under attack by Russia.

“It was difficult,” said Borichevskiy, who has worked at the facility since 1992 when he was first hired as an electrician.

“Everyone understood that we could not work anymore. The front was approaching. He could not calm down.”

As extra crews were brought in to begin the work, the problem arose of how to move equipment, in some cases weighing several hundred tonnes, without using the railway line.

A burnt wagon sits on the site of the Kurakhove factory in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine. (Serhii Korovayny)

Everything had to be lifted onto trucks, which meant bridges had to be inspected to make sure they could hold the weight, and reinforced if they couldn’t.

Arrangements were made to evacuate workers and put them to work at other energy facilities in Ukraine, while trucks and tractors were brought in to transport equipment.

Russian forces are approaching

The city of Kurakhove, which grew up in the shadow of the Soviet-era facility, had 18,000 residents before February 2022. In recent weeks, as the Russians approached, those who remained in the city were evacuated.

Borichevskiy moved to another location in August, but some 100 workers remained at the facility by November.

Last week, Ukrainian officials said the facility came under renewed shelling, which destroyed the cooling towers.

Military analysts and Russian pro-war bloggers say troops are now in Kurakhove. The Russian Ministry of Defense announced that it took control of the Nova Illinka settlement, one kilometer away on the opposite bank of the Kurakhove reservoir.

“This place is in half ruin,” said Borichevskiy, who was born and raised in the city.

“Everything is very sad there. I don’t know what will happen next. How will people be able to live there when everything is half in ruins?”

A police officer helps a woman evacuated from her home on the outskirts of Kurakhove, Donetsk region, Ukraine, on September 16. (Reuters)

repair race

DTEK’s current focus, together with Ukraine’s other energy operators, is to protect the remaining energy grid and try to minimize the time during which large parts of the country are plunged into darkness.

As of July, 90 percent of DTEK’s production capacity was destroyed. Crews have since worked to rebuild 60 percent of it, but then Attack on 17 Novembermurdered at least 11 people and caused further damage to the grid.

US government and European Commission They recently announced that they will give 112 million US dollars Private company to purchase equipment, including transformers, to help restore capacity.

Part of a Russian missile is shown at a thermal power plant damaged by a Russian missile attack on an undisclosed location in Ukraine on Thursday. (Gleb Garanich/Reuters)

Oleksandr Kharchenko, director general of the Kiev-based Energy Industry Research Center, said efforts were made throughout the war to strengthen energy facilities, especially substations that were frequently attacked.

Work continues to erect concrete and steel structures around them to protect them from drones and missiles.

Kharchenko said that while Ukrainian cities are experiencing power outages due to lack of sufficient capacity or reserves, the system in general has responded to Russia’s attacks and will survive the coming winter.

A worker at the Kurakhove power plant was working to dismantle and move critical parts earlier this year after the plant could no longer operate. (Serhii Korovayny)

“The Ukrainian energy system has huge challenges, but it is tackling them,” he said in an interview with CBC News. “I don’t think we’re going to have an apocalypse or a major technological disaster.”

While communities routinely plan for power outages, many residents say they are adapting by running generators and stocking up on batteries to charge devices.

What’s unpredictable, Kharchenko said, is how cold this winter will be: If temperatures drop to -10 or -15 C for more than a week, as appears to be the case across Ukraine, there will be power outages, at least on average. eight hours a day.