“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.”
*Because I read “Ukraine grid attacks: Engineers race to restore electricity supplies” by Paul Adams on 3 Feb 2023, on the BBC News, and also “Why are Ukrainians calling Russians ‘orcs’?” by James FitzGerald on 30 Apr 2022, on the BBC news.
So, I wrote this poem, including a story of Fyodor.
Please read the original story on the BBC news:
Ukraine grid attacks: Engineers race to restore electricity supplies – BBC News
**My friend shows you this poem with other my poems together also on the Ukrainian website for their children and others!
Please join them!
