Kharkiv is constantly under heavy enemy bombardment. Every day, power engineers travel hundreds of kilometers along broken roads, past destroyed houses, and amidst explosions to repair damage and ensure electricity for residents of Kharkiv and neighboring oblasts.
Dmytro Mysochka, Head of the Linear Equipment Department of the Eastern Region’s CRC, explains, “Our teams take turns going to hot spots, and it is the most difficult thing to send people to places under constant fire. Every time, I wait anxiously for my people to call me to say that everything is fine and that they are on their way back.” Mysochka also sometimes joins his teams in the field: “When there is more complicated damage, I also go to the site. It brings the team together.”
The work of electricity engineers requires not only professional knowledge, but also smooth and careful coordination with the State Emergency Service and the military administration. Working in hazardous areas requires permits, and these often take time. “One time, due to the difficult situation at the front, we had to wait three weeks because the military could not guarantee the safety of our personnel,” Mysochka recounts. However, as soon as the permit is granted, the team is ready to start working immediately to bring electricity back to Ukrainian homes as soon as possible.
Dmytro and his colleagues have a great deal of work to do. They are now repairing equipment at three substations, fixing damage caused by debris on overhead lines, and performing other emergency and scheduled repairs.
The engineers recently completed repairs in the city of Dnipro, where a missile hit an anchor pole. Replacing the pylon is a complex and painstaking process. Sometimes teams have to go to the site without knowing what kind of damage there is. “Then we take the spare parts and materials we think we will need and hit the road,” says M. Mysochka. “It would seem that after two years of war, it is difficult to surprise us with anything, but the terrible consequences of these strikes can still surprise us.”
Despite all the dangers, the engineers of Kharkiv Oblast do not take a day off. Mysochka and his colleagues keep their fingers on the pulse: “We will not be defeated – the damage must be repaired, and the electricity must run!”
Background information:
Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), through its Energy Security Project (ESP), has provided a range of technical assistance to Ukrenergo, Ukraine’s electricity transmission system operator. This support includes the supply of autotransformers, key electrical equipment, and IT software and hardware delivered all over Ukraine, including Kharkiv Oblast. ESP also provides various forms of technical support and is assisting Ukraine in harmonizing its legislation with EU acquis standards.