Amid the monstrous piles of twisted metal, pools of congealed oil, and walls covered in shrapnel, one incongruous detail catches my eye.
Spots of snow. Inside a thermal power plant.
With another Ukrainian winter approaching, the huge turbine hall is full of activity. Engineers, dwarfed by the sheer size of the site, repair what they can, remove what they can’t, after a recent Russian airstrike hits this facility.
For security reasons we are not allowed to say where we are or when the visit took place. We also cannot describe the extent of the damage, nor whether the power plant is still working.
Russia, we are told, is gathering every scrap of information to draw up its next target list.
On Thursday, Moscow carried out its second mass attack on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in less than two weeks.
Ten such attacks this year have placed a huge burden on the entire energy system.
Before this month’s first attack on November 17, Ukraine had already lost 9 GW of generation capacity. That is about half of the energy consumption during last winter’s peak season.
Oleksandr says workers don’t even have time to repair the walls and roof of the power plants [BBC/Joe Phua]
We have been asked not to say whether the factory we visited was among the latest targeted on Thursday. But like others across the country, this decades-old facility has suffered multiple drone and missile attacks since Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Evidence of Russia’s destructive intentions is everywhere.
In a corner of the turbine hall, under a gaping hole in the roof, workers warm their hands over a makeshift brazier.
Large pieces of plastic are draped over the machines to protect them from the elements.
“The conditions are tough,” says Oleksandr. We have agreed not to identify him further.
“We don’t even have time to repair the most important equipment, let alone the roof and walls. From one attack to the next, everything is being destroyed again.”
Ukraine’s Western allies are trying to help.
On Monday, DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private energy company, said it has received £89 million ($113 million) from the European Commission and the US government to help restore capacity and protect vital equipment from snow, rain and freezing temperatures .
But it’s an epic battle for the exhausted men tasked with keeping the Ukrainian lights on.
Even before the most recent Russian attack, Ukraine had lost 9 GW of generation capacity [BBC/Joe Phua]
In the control room, shielded from the turbine hall by a wall of sandbags, Dmytro takes a break.
“Some defend the front lines on the battlefield,” he tells us. “We have our own energy front to defend.”
But while DTEK’s engineers struggle with the near-impossible task of staying one step ahead of Russia’s relentless onslaught, the rest of the country is doing what it has been doing since the war began: adapting.
As the third winter of the full-scale invasion arrives, the city streets once again buzz and roar to the sound of generators small and large. Although the street lights are off, shops and restaurants are brightly lit.
Diesel fumes hang heavy in the cold winter air.
In tower blocks, where power outages put lifts out of action and prevent hot water from reaching the top floors, residents who were already used to having power banks and flashlights on hand are starting to innovate.
Some have invested in batteries and inverters for their homes, which kick in as soon as the power goes out.
In a twenty-five-storey block in Kiev’s Pozniaky district, where about 700 people live, residents banded together to install a larger system in the basement, powerful enough to keep a single elevator running and provide hot water to to pump the upper floors.
For Nataliya Andriyko, who lives on the 19th floor with her husband and pets, it is a blessing.
“It’s a bizarre feeling,” she tells me as we sit in a kitchen lit by a single battery-powered lamp.
“It’s scary how happy I am just to have these basic needs. That I can take the dog down in the elevator instead of on foot in the dark. That I have water from the tap.”
Even basic things like running water and a working elevator cheer people like Nataliya up [BBC/Joe Phua]
After two harsh winters, Nataliya is full of praise for her fellow residents.
“We have a great group of people,” she says. “People who are modern, who understand that something can be invented.”
“Together we are strong.”
Dealing with power outages is a national concern, with people checking their phones to see when the next power outage will occur and pooling their resources to buy generators and solar panels.
For the makers of the film “Zbory OSBB” (which roughly translates as “Meeting of the Homeowners Association”) it is also a fertile ground for comedy.
The film, which premieres in early December, shows a restless group of residents bickering over the purchase of a generator as winter approaches.
“When you are more than ten people and they have to find common ground, it is always partly funny,” says Ivan Melashenko, the film’s writer and producer.
Some of the ideas, he said, came from the feverish conversations in his own apartment building’s group chat.
“It’s always a nightmare because everyone has their own opinion and it’s impossible to find a solution.”
Ivan Melashenko has written a film about a dispute over the purchase of a power generator for an apartment building [BBC/Joe Phua]
The film’s premise – how to stay warm as Ukraine’s bitter winter sets in – is hardly a comedy.
“But when people have these clashes and conflicts, of course we have all the jokes you can think of,” says Ivan.
He says the public is not looking for escapism – the war is the grim, inescapable backdrop – but for positive news.
“It is impossible to live in such dramatic and stressful conditions for three years without any positive emotions,” he says.
“People need this.”
Additional reporting by Hanna Chornous
