Power Lines Under Fire

© Sasha Maslov

How Russian strategy to plunge Ukraine into dark ages has failed.

Since early Fall of 2022, the Ukrainian power grid has been under non-stop barrages of missiles and kamikaze drones from Russia. But as the spring settles, the Ukrainian energy grid barely experiences any power deficit.

However, that came at an immense toll - both in human lives and in the infrastructure and power grid damage.

There have been individual strikes on power stations before, both Chornobyl nuclear power plant and the Zaporizhzhia NPP were among the priorities to occupy for the Russians, in the first days of the war, and both have become a point of many controversies. Chornobyl plant, which was a site of a devastating nuclear disaster in 1986, was liberated by Ukrainians on March 31, 2022, while the Zaporizhzhia plant still remains under occupation and has been close to a nuclear disaster on several occasions as it has lost power itself and was switched to the emergency diesel generators every time.

Starting from September 11, 2022, and until now, Russian command seems to be determined to target the civilian power infrastructure in order to switch the lights off all across the country. After 70 missiles were launched on November 23, 2022, Ukraine experienced its first blackout. However, miraculously, the grid was brought back to function within two days.

The biggest challenge for the energy sector was the winter. There was no guarantee the grid will sustain the cold months, with much higher demand, while undergoing indiscriminate bombings. More than 400 missiles were launched throughout the winter months targeting the energy infrastructure, as well as more than 50 kamikaze drones. Failing to make impactful damage to the grid itself, Russia has switched its deadly attention from sub-stations to the power plants and coal mines to impact the production of electricity.

But yet people kept showing up to work - thousands of workers every day clocked in all across the country finding new meaning and importance in their line of duty.

Instead of demoralizing the population of Ukraine, Russia has made the people even more resilient. By moving frontlines hundreds of kilometers inland from the cold and brutal trenches of the East and South, Russia mobilized Ukrainians even further, and the energy workers have become new fighters in this treacherous and inhumane war.

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