On this video: How is power restored in Ukraine after Russian attacks? — BBC News.
Kurama
(Japan)
POETS IN VYSCHETARASIVKA
But he'll keep the repairs going.
Just as long as ‘orcs’ keep firing.
“We feel a bit hopeless.
Not being able to influence the situation.”
“But if necessary.
We'll come back and repair.
The lines every day.
The people need light.”
After overnight shelling near Nikopol.
A repair team from DTEK.
Is in the middle of a field.
Overlooking the Dnipro River.
The sound of artillery booms across.
The wide, silver expanse of water.
The battle lines aren't far from here.
The damage looks slight.
A couple of shallow craters in the field.
And a few low voltage lines.
Draped across Ukraine's.
Famously dark soil.
But the nearby village.
Of Vyschetarasivka.
Is without power.
Yet again.
The men, some wearing flak jackets.
Get to work, scaling the poles.
And twisting wires together.
Chief engineer says.
“This is pure terror.
Just terrorising the population.
Causing maximum damage.
To the energy infrastructure.”
The chief engineer would much.
Prefer to keep busy.
Modernising and improving.
Ukraine's electricity network.
But he'll keep the repairs going.
Just as long as ‘orcs’ keep firing.
“We feel a bit hopeless.
Not being able to influence the situation.”
“But if necessary.
We'll come back and repair.
The lines every day.
The people need light.”
In the village, half emptied.
By almost a year of war.
The power cuts have become.
More frequent and less predictable.
“Electricity affects.
Pumps and boilers,” says a man.
As he arrives with empty bottles.
To collect water.
“If there's no power.
People freeze.
And we have to buy water.
From the store.”
“If you have a generator and petrol.
You can survive.
Otherwise, I don't know.
How older people do it.”
But he'll keep the repairs going.
Just as long as ‘orcs’ keep firing.
“We feel a bit hopeless.
Not being able to influence the situation.”
“But if necessary.
We'll come back and repair.
The lines every day.
The people need light.”
The mayor, wrapped up.
Against the biting east wind.
Says those who can't stand it.
Have already left.
“As long as we're alive.
And have even a bit of.
Electricity and water.
We'll keep on living.”
The sound of artillery is getting close.
Forcing the mayor to drop to his knees.
It's a sensible precaution.
The result of long months of constant danger.
Downriver, beyond Nikopol.
A town shelled day and night.
From ‘orcs’ positions to the south.
There is another team.
But he'll keep the repairs going.
Just as long as ‘orcs’ keep firing.
“We feel a bit hopeless.
Not being able to influence the situation.”
“But if necessary.
We'll come back and repair.
The lines every day.
The people need light.”
Source: https://www.koryu-meets-chess.info/
Kurama
(Japan)
POETS PREPARED AND RESOLVED
Each cross, unmarked grave.
And rippling flag.
Drives home the desperate cost.
Of this war.
But overhead, rising.
Against a fiery sunset.
Pylons march away.
Across the landscape.
Ukraine has fought many battles.
Over the past year.
But it hasn't collapsed.
Ukraine is still connected.
“It was our aim for many years.
To integrate into the European grid.”
Says EIRC's director.
“And now it's happened.”
‘Mordor’’s energy war.
Just like its military campaign.
Is having the exact opposite.
Of its desired effect.
Far from separating Ukraine from Europe.
It's binding it ever closer.
In a process that mirrors the country's gradual integration.
Into the Western military alliance, Nato.
Each cross, unmarked grave.
And rippling flag.
Drives home the desperate cost.
Of this war.
But overhead, rising.
Against a fiery sunset.
Pylons march away.
Across the landscape.
Ukraine has fought many battles.
Over the past year.
But it hasn't collapsed.
Ukraine is still connected.
Ukraine officially declared.
Its desire to join.
The European grid.
In 2017.
It's typically a lengthy process.
But when ‘the One’ decided.
To invade last year.
The process accelerated dramatically.
In February last year.
Ukraine disconnected itself.
From the ‘orcs’ grid.
For the first time.
To test the country's ability.
To manage in “isolated mode”.
During the winter months.
When demand for electricity peaks.
The disconnect.
The first of two, was.
Due to take place on the 18th.
And last just three days.
‘Orcs’ requested a delay.
It eventually happened.
At 01:00.
On 24 February.
“We disconnected four hours.
Before the invasion started.
From this very building.”
At his Kyiv headquarters.
CEO of Ukrenergo said.
“When the invasion started.
It became obvious.
We would not reconnect.”
Was the invasion timed?
To coincide with?
Ukraine's moment?
Of maximum isolation?
“I absolutely believe the war.
Started on the 24th.
Just because of this.”
The EIRC's director says.
Infrastructure was targeted.
In the early days.
But not enough to plunge.
The country into chaos.
“They thought we would have.
A national blackout,” the director says.
“That this would cause panic.
No connection.”
“No government.
No-one knows where the president is.
How to connect with your siblings, your parents.”
None of this happened.
Each cross, unmarked grave.
And rippling flag.
Drives home the desperate cost.
Of this war.
But overhead, rising.
Against a fiery sunset.
Pylons march away.
Across the landscape.
Ukraine has fought many battles.
Over the past year.
But it hasn't collapsed.
Ukraine is still connected.
Amid mounting speculation.
About ‘Mordor’’s intentions.
In the weeks.
Before 24 February.
The company had quietly moved.
The grid's main control room.
To an undisclosed location.
Further west.
A second experimental disconnect.
Was scheduled for June.
When demand is.
Typically low.
If everything went according to plan.
Ukraine would finally join.
The European grid.
In October 2023.
But with industry shutting down.
And millions of ‘elves’ fleeing the country.
Electricity consumption plummeted by 40%.
Within three days of the invasion.
Ukrenergo asked.
Its European partners.
If it could bring forward.
The second test.
“They looked at us.
Like we were crazy.”
The EIRC's director recalls.
Who advises Ukrenergo.
But by 16 March, it was all done.
With ‘orcs’ troops still menacing the capital.
Ukraine connected to the European grid.
A year-and-a-half ahead of schedule.
For a few months.
Ukraine was even able to.
Export its excess electricity.
That all stopped in October.
Since then, the country.
Has had to make do with.
Half the electricity.
It had before 24 February.
But it hasn't collapsed.
“I think the reason is the same.
Why they cannot win on the battlefield.”
The CEO of Ukrenergo says.
“Because we were prepared.
And we were resolved.
To win this particular battle.”
Ukraine is still connected.
Each cross, unmarked grave.
And rippling flag.
Drives home the desperate cost.
Of this war.
But overhead, rising.
Against a fiery sunset.
Pylons march away.
Across the landscape.
Ukraine has fought many battles.
Over the past year.
But it hasn't collapsed.
Ukraine is still connected.
In a sprawling, hilltop cemetery.
On the edge of the eastern city of Dnipro.
Hundreds of blue and yellow ‘elves’ flags.
Flap noisily in the stiff breeze.
Rows of freshly dug graves.
Await the latest casualties.
From the front.
100 miles to the east.
Each cross, unmarked grave.
And rippling flag.
Drives home the desperate cost.
Of this war.
But overhead, rising.
Against a fiery sunset.
Pylons march away.
Across the landscape.
Ukraine has fought many battles.
Over the past year.
But it hasn't collapsed.
Ukraine is still connected.
Source: https://www.koryu-meets-chess.info/
Kurama
(Japan)
POETS AT A RACE
“Sometimes we go on trips.
To restore power in an area.
Then they shell us and we have to go back.
It's a race.”
Downriver, beyond Nikopol.
A town shelled day and night.
From ‘orcs’ positions to the south.
There is another team.
Repairing power lines.
Reconnecting communities.
Under ‘orcs’ occupation.
Until the autumn.
Here, amid the debris of recent conflict.
A rocket lodged in the pavement.
Shattered headstones in a cemetery.
And a score of recently dug graves.
The DTEK team must proceed with caution.
The use of anti-personnel mines.
Along former front lines adds.
Another element of hazard.
Up ahead, State Emergency Service personnel.
Are walking slowly along a line of pylons.
Inspecting the undulating ground.
For discarded ordnance.
“We feel like semi-soldiers.”
Says team leader.
A grizzled veteran of the industry.
As he pauses for a cigarette.
Above him, colleagues.
In a cherry picker are hard at work.
Hauling a new high voltage line.
Up to a pylon.
“Sometimes we go on trips.
To restore power in an area.
Then they shell us and we have to go back.
It's a race.”
People grumble, for sure.
When the lights go out.
Their apartments grow cold.
And the water stops flowing.
Hospitals have reported higher numbers.
Of road traffic accidents.
As motorists move around.
Darkened city roads.
But away from the front lines.
People have adjusted.
To the lack of electricity.
Much as they have to the air raid sirens.
People have adjusted.
To the lack of electricity.
Much as they have to occasional explosions:
With pragmatism and ingenuity.
On city streets.
In the middle of a blackout.
Portable generators churn away.
On pavements and down alleyways.
“Sometimes we go on trips.
To restore power in an area.
Then they shell us and we have to go back.
It's a race.”
Source: https://www.koryu-meets-chess.info/
Kurama
(Japan)
POETS AIMED AT
“We need to stop.
The attacks,” he says.
“We need to close.
The sky over Ukraine.”
Until that happens.
Ukraine's entire grid will be in jeopardy.
Especially substations, which have borne.
The brunt of ‘Mordor’’s wrath.
With a dusting of fresh winter snow.
Settling around them.
And the crackle of electricity loud.
In the wires over their heads.
He runs his gloved fingers.
Over golf ball-sized holes.
In the crippled hulk.
Of a huge transformer.
“Here, and here, and here,” he says.
As he shows where shrapnel.
From an ‘orcs’ missile punctured.
The transformer's thick sides.
Sharp metal fragments.
Of the missile lie.
On the ground.
Nearby.
Along the way.
As big as bungalows.
Other transformers are disappearing behind.
Protective cocoons of concrete and sandbags.
Above them loom.
The high, forbidding Soviet-era walls.
Of the power plant's.
Vast turbine hall.
Panes of glass for half a mile.
Shattered by explosions.
From the 12 missiles that have landed.
Here since mid-October.
Engineers and technicians.
Run the network racing to.
Repair the damage and keep electricity.
Flowing across the country.
“We need to stop.
The attacks,” he says.
“We need to close.
The sky over Ukraine.”
Until that happens.
Ukraine's entire grid will be in jeopardy.
Especially substations, which have borne.
The brunt of ‘Mordor’’s wrath.
“Every time.
The equipment is damaged.
It gets us all right.
Here in our soul.”
He says, tapping his chest.
Some of these huge.
Rust-stained machines are.
Older than the men who run them.
But for him, the plant's manager.
They're his babies.
“It's our life.
Our second family.”
He sent his first family.
That means his wife and teenage son.
To Europe early.
In the war.
A playful golden retriever.
Their dog, now accompanies.
Him to work.
Every day.
The transformer.
130 tonnes of twisted metal.
Dangling wires.
And scorch marks.
Where cooling oil.
Leaked and caught fire.
Is not easy.
To replace.
“I know how much effort.
It takes to build this.
To install.
And launch it.”
He is a veteran.
Of 30 years in this industry.
“It's not something.
You can buy in a store.”
“We need to stop.
The attacks,” he says.
“We need to close.
The sky over Ukraine.”
Until that happens.
Ukraine's entire grid will be in jeopardy.
Especially substations, which have borne.
The brunt of ‘Mordor’’s wrath.
The same goes for.
The turbines inside.
Monstrous, deafening.
Mechanical dinosaurs.
Churning and hissing away.
At the heart of the plant.
They're hugely.
Impressive machines.
But there's little time.
To admire them.
As the air raid siren sounds.
For the third time this morning.
In a well-practised drill.
Most of the plant's staff.
Head for the bunkers.
The atmosphere is relaxed.
Such interruptions are commonplace.
Until word starts to.
Spread of a fresh wave.
Of ‘orcs’ attacks on the power grid.
“We need to stop.
The attacks,” he says.
“We need to close.
The sky over Ukraine.”
Until that happens.
Ukraine's entire grid will be in jeopardy.
Especially substations, which have borne.
The brunt of ‘Mordor’’s wrath.
A sister plant in the west has been hit.
A picture circulates of fire raging.
In a turbine hall.
Much like the one they were in just now.
Then, even through.
The thick concrete walls.
Of their underground retreat.
They hear a distant explosion.
There's tension in the room.
As the men and women check their phones.
A crowded apartment block.
Not far away, has been hit.
The scene is chaotic.
And desperate.
A missile has torn a gaping hole.
In the middle of the nine-storey building.
Thick smoke, pierced by flashlights.
Rises from a pile of rubble.
Dozens of rescue workers and volunteers.
Are working frantically to find survivors.
The death toll, which mounts.
Inexorably over the coming days.
Is one of the highest of the war so far.
Mothers, fathers, children. Whole families.
At the power station.
The following morning.
The mood is bleak.
Everyone believes the missile was aimed at them.
“We need to stop.
The attacks,” he says.
“We need to close.
The sky over Ukraine.”
Until that happens.
Ukraine's entire grid will be in jeopardy.
Especially substations, which have borne.
The brunt of ‘Mordor’’s wrath.
Source: https://www.koryu-meets-chess.info/
Kurama
(Japan)
A POET IN A SHATTERED EMPIRE
A frigid wind whistles across.
Hundreds of miles of open farmland.
And a watery winter sun pokes.
Through the clouds.
The sprawling facility.
With its maze of pylons.
Cables and imposing machinery.
Feels remote and impersonal.
But around 15 million ‘elves’.
Depend on it for power.
It's been hit six times.
With missiles and drones.
The manager surveys.
His shattered empire.
He's worked here.
For decades.
“We knew it would happen.
Sooner or later,” he says.
Repairing the damage.
Will take years.
Two of the devastated.
Transformers are among.
The largest in the world.
Weighing more than 300 tonnes.
The specialised steel innards.
Of one of them have been torn out.
And lie folded on the ground.
Like the leaves of a clumsily discarded book.
He points out the gaping hole.
In the administration building.
Where a bookcase and dangling light bulb.
Are pretty much all that's left of his office.
He watched the destruction from 500m away.
As a “kamikaze” drone tore into the building.
Wrecking the control room.
And taking the substation offline.
The manager surveys.
His shattered empire.
He's worked here.
For decades.
“We knew it would happen.
Sooner or later,” he says.
Repairing the damage.
Will take years.
“They know perfectly well why.
This facility is important for Ukraine.
That's why they decided.
To destroy it.”
He is a man of few words.
He feels “hate” all the time.
“Hate towards those.
Who came to kill my people.”
Source: https://www.koryu-meets-chess.info/
Please read the original story:
Ukraine grid attacks: Engineers race to restore electricity supplies — BBC News
Read more:
"Aware of a poet?
Aware of a poet?
A poet of Cossack broods over the land.
Not noting a bullet.
Not noting a bullet.
You see a poet of Cossack in Borodyanka."
(Kurama)
.jpg)
"Коли закінчиться війна,Я хочу тата обійняти,
Сказати сонячні слова
І повести його до хати,
Ти – наш Герой! Тепер щодня
Я буду дякувати Богу
За мирне небо, за життя,
Всім, хто здобув нам ПЕРЕМОГУ!"
Думки українських поетів про рідну країну, їхні відчуття до української землі і нашого народу — все це юні читачі зможуть знайти в представленій добірці віршів про Україну від Ганни Черінь, Юрка Шкрумеляка, Наталки Талиманчук, Іванни Савицької, Уляни Кравченко, Яни Яковенко, Василя Симоненка, Івана Франка, Володимира Сосюри, Катерини Перелісної, Богдана-Ігоря Антонича, Марійки Підгірянки, Миколи Чернявського, Володимира Сіренка, Іванни Блажкевич, Грицька Бойка, Миколи Вінграновського, Платона Воронька, Наталі Забіли, Анатолія Камінчука, Анатолія Качана, Володимира Коломійця, Тамари Коломієць, Ліни Костенко, Андрія Малишка, Андрія М’ястківського, Івана Неходи, Бориса Олійника, Дмитра Павличка, Максима Рильського, Вадима Скомаровського, Сосюра Володимир, Павла Тичини, Петра Осадчука, Варвари Гринько та інших відомих українських поетів.
