(2 May 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Exact location unknown, Ukraine - 2 May 2024
1. Various of destroyed power plant
2. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Dmytro, 51:
++PARTLY COVERED WITH SHOT 3++
"My soul just bleeds when I see such giants, which were built by millions of people, and in which so much kindness and love were invested, it is all destroyed in a matter of seconds, in a matter of moments. Therefore, I will work for the benefit of DTEK (energy company) while I can still work at these enterprises."
3. Various exteriors of destroyed power plant
4. Emergency workers looking at the destroyed power plant
5. Various of destroyed building, UPSOUND of air raid siren
STORYLINE:
Ukrainian energy workers are struggling to repair the damage from intensifying airstrikes aimed at pulverising Ukraine’s energy grid, hobbling the economy and sapping the public’s morale.
Staff worry they will lose the race to prepare for winter unless allies come up with air-defence systems like the US-made Patriots to stop Russian attacks inflicting more destruction on already damaged plants.
The U.S. has sent Ukraine some Patriot missile systems, and said last week it would give more after entreaties from President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The Associated Press on Thursday visited a plant owned by DTEK, the country’s biggest private energy supplier, days after a cruise-missile attack left parts of it a mess of smashed glass, shattered bricks and twisted metal.
The coal-fired plant is one of four DTEK power stations struck on the same day last week.
The AP was given access on the condition that the location of the facility, technical details of the damage and workers’ full names are not published due to security concerns.
During the visit, State Emergency Service workers in hard hats and harnesses clambered atop the twisted roof of a vast building, assessing the damage and occasionally dislodging chunks of debris with a thunderous clang.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told Foreign Policy magazine that half of the country’s energy system has been damaged by Russian attacks.
DTEK says it has lost 80% of its electricity-generating capacity in almost 180 aerial attacks since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.
It estimates that repairing all the damaged plants would take between six months and two years - even if there are no more strikes.
Russia pummelled Ukraine’s energy infrastructure to devastating effect during the “blackout winter” of 2022-23.
In March it launched a new wave of attacks, one of which completely destroyed the Trypilska power plant near Kyiv, one of the country’s biggest.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has framed the attacks as retaliation for Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries.
DTEK executive director Dmytro Sakharuk said in March that out of 10 units the company had repaired after earlier strikes, two-thirds had been hit again.
Ukraine’s energy firms have all but exhausted their finances, equipment and spare parts fixing the damage Russia has already wrought.
The country’s power plants urgently need specialist equipment that Ukraine can no longer make at sufficient speed and scale.
Some 51 DTEK employees have been wounded in attacks since 2022, and three have been killed.
Staff say they keep working despite the danger because they know how crucial their work is.
Machine operator Dmytro, who was on shift during the recent attack and took shelter in the basement, said that when he emerged, "my soul was bleeding when I saw the scale of the destruction."
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