Reportage

Ukraine: in Lyman, "accelerate repairs before restarting the gas"

Audio 01:04

Photo taken in Lyman, Ukraine, December 2, 2022. AP - Andriy Andriyenko

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

In the territories liberated in recent months by Ukrainian forces, life is slowly returning.

Too slowly.

As in Lyman, a locality in Donbass occupied for months by the Russians and recaptured last October.

The national gas company is just beginning to repair the network, in the middle of winter and not far from the front.

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With our special correspondents in Lyman,

Three months later, in Lyman, the basement of the offices of the regional gas company still bears the traces of the Russian occupation.

We cleaned up a bit.

This is where the Russians were installed.

They slept on these mattresses.

Vadim Batiy, its director, explains why the city, disfigured by the fighting, is a priority.

Lyman is a priority.

Because elsewhere in the oblast there was not so much damage.

The operator will restart the gas in the region.

People come back.

So we can speed up repairs inside the city before turning the gas back on.

In the street, company employees fill holes in high pipes.

And it's not without danger, explains one of them, Andrii.

A few days ago, we came under rocket fire.

This is often the case and nothing can be done about it.

It's war and the front line is near.

But that's what we're here for, renovating the pipes.

And show people that everything will be fine.

A titanic job.

In recaptured areas like Lyman, at least 50% of the infrastructure was damaged, according to the company.

►To re-read: Ukraine: in the Donbass, the consequences of the cold on the war

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