Employees of Overhead Line Repair Unit No.1 of the Construction and Repair Center (CRC) of the Southern Region, headed by Maksym Savenko, serve Zaporizhzhia and part of Dnipropetrovsk Oblasts, often going to neighboring regions to help. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, they have been working in close proximity to the front line.
Maksym’s power engineers were recently conducting repairs after a Russian attack on a power plant in the eastern region, where they had to work all night in the rain. “Difficult weather conditions are not the worst thing,” Maksym Savenko remarks. ”We often carry out emergency repairs near Ukrainian cities, which are under almost constant bombing.”
At first, the main threat was artillery shelling. Now the situation has become more complicated, as FPV drones and other unmanned aerial vehicles have become common weapons used by Russia. “They are difficult to spot, but they hit equipment and machinery accurately. Their main target is our air lines,” explains Savenko.
The site team is cleaning up after a strike. Power workers are constantly repairing the lines supplying the Zaporizhzhia NPP. “If a line is not repaired as soon as possible and we do not ensure reliable power supply for the plant’s own needs, a big disaster could happen at ZNPP,” says Maksym Savenko.
Savenko’s team is fairly young, but due to the intensity, volume, and variety of tasks they face, they have quickly learned on the job and gained the experience and skills necessary to perform highly complex and dangerous tasks.
Despite physical fatigue and dangerous conditions, Savenko and his power engineers continue to do their job. “We understand that we are not just working, but doing a crucial job for people and Ukraine,” Savenko says with pride.