Report
"I'm just doing my job": in Ukraine, with the technicians in charge of restoring electricity
Audio 01:24
In Irpin, near kyiv, DTEK agents are working on the electricity network.
© Aabla Jounaïdi / RFI
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
In Ukraine, electricity installations have been deliberately hit by Russia for months to weaken the population by plunging it into darkness and cold.
After each bombardment, the agents of the DTEK, the main Ukrainian private operator, rush to repair the equipment, sometimes at the risk of their lives, to the point that they enjoy a resurgence of popularity in the country.
Illustration in Irpin, a suburb of kyiv.
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With our special correspondents in Irpin,
Aabla Jounaïdi
and
Boris Vichith
It is only a routine intervention, that day in Irpin.
But for several weeks, journalists from all over the world have come to interview and film DTEK agents in action.
“
It's really fun.
People see us intervene in the street to restore power to their neighborhood, and they appreciate it
,” says Serhii Buriak, head of an intervention team.
He sees the recognition they generate every day: “
People see that we don't just work our hours.
We are invested in our mission.
We get up very early, we come home very late at night.
We're not complaining.
And people say thank you to us
”.
"It's really war over there
"
Alexandre, a tall, 26-year-old man, blond as wheat, could perfectly embody the figure of this hero of a new kind.
But the young man, originally from the neighboring town and martyr of Boutcha, categorically refuses the terms war, front or hero, to describe his work.
"
It's nothing but my job
," he said humbly.
“
When I left Boutcha to come and repair the destroyed network here, last spring, we got up every morning at 7 a.m. and we did a series of interventions.
And this, until 9 o'clock in the evening.
The hardest part was keeping up the spirits.
Because I was there all the time, away from my family.
But that has nothing to do with the forehead.
My best friend is fighting in the Donbass.
There, it's really war
, ”he testifies.
The DTEK has had its share of victims in intervention since September.
Three agents of the firm died and 26 were injured, according to the company.
►Read again: War in Ukraine: in kyiv, power cuts are now part of everyday life
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