Two Ukrainians tell what life is like for workers under bombs

Sonsoles Martín

12/10/2024

TRANSLATED FROM CADENA SER WEBSITE LINK BELOW

Olesia Briazgunova and Vasyl Andreyev are two trade unionists who represent all the country's workers, who have to go to work in fear of being killed.

Imagine having to go to work, afraid that a plane will bomb your city without warning. This is the daily life of millions of Ukrainians who live in fear of being killed.

We spoke to trade unionist Olesia Briazgunova about how the situation has worsened following the Russian attacks on power and energy plants, especially in recent months.

It is estimated that more than half of the country's power plants have been destroyed or badly damaged since the start of the war in 2022. This Putin technique seeks to plunge Ukraine into darkness, especially now with the arrival of winter, and deprive them of light and heat. Something that the UN denounced in September violates humanitarian law.

But despite everything, Briazgunova says that workers are resisting, that they continue to go to work for the country's economy, and in general, to live. One of the airstrikes Briazgunova described to us hit a mine, leaving dozens of workers underground, without electricity, without power, and unable to get out for hours. In emergencies, most workplaces have shelters, but they cannot always leave their positions, as Briazgunova's colleague Vasyl Andreyev tells us.

The lack of men leads to an increase in women in the construction industry

In a video recording of the Russian attack on a Ukrainian children's hospital in July, Andreyev tells us that they saw a group of doctors operating on a child's heart, while everything was being destroyed around them. There are even areas that are contaminated by the bombs, and many farmers cannot work in their fields because the air is unbreathable.

Many ordinary workers decide to join the war to defend their country and to reclaim occupied territories. Because of this lack of men, more women have joined the construction or steel industry, in jobs where men were and have now become vacant. Many women have up to three jobs, or three shifts, including volunteering to help the wounded and soldiers.

Andreyev and Briazgunova talk about resistance and daily struggle. Going to work is their way of claiming that they are still alive and that they will not surrender to Russia. Andreyev tells us that about 20% of Ukrainians are outside the country, and he hopes that when the war is over, at least half of them will return home, through projects of national and international companies, and with the economic support of Europe.