On the ground with crews battling to keep the lights on in Ukraine

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. KYIV, Ukraine—It was late January, and an elite Ukrainian team grabbed their tools for a special operation critical to their country’s resistance against Russia: an underwater drone, a hammer and a chisel. Their job was to repair a crack in a concrete structure at a power plant caused by a Russian missile strike.

At risk was power and heating for thousands of homes in Ukraine’s capital. The challenge? The crack was underwater, and the repairs would have to take place as Russian missiles continued to land. The team succeeded in a risky operation lasting six days, one of the most compelling examples of the courage and resilience of repair crews and power station workers fighting night and day to keep the power and heat on as Russia seeks to destroy Ukrainian morale with relentless aerial attacks.

“It was definitely one of our hardest tasks ever," said Andriy Vlasenko, the 45-year-old head of the dive team from the State Emergency Service. Relentless Russian strikes with missiles and explosive drones have targeted Ukrainian power stations and electrical infrastructure, leaving most of the population with only a few hours of power a day, according to Ukrainian officials. Russia’s attacks have taken a toll on energy workers, killing more than 160 in nearly four years of war, according to the Ukrainian Energy Ministry.

Russians often strike the same site twice in what Ukraine says is a “double tap" aimed at killing rescuers and repair crews. More than 100 emergency-service workers have been killed and more than 500 wounded since the invasion, Ukraine’s emergency service said. The task for Vlasenko’s team of five divers at the power plant was especially perilous.