Ukraine's coal mines turn to women to solve wartime staff shortages
By Max Hunder
PAVLOHRAD, Ukraine (Reuters) -After more than a thousand of its workers went to fight Russia's invasion, a coal mining enterprise in eastern Ukraine suffered a huge staff shortage. Its answer was to allow women to work underground for the first time in its history.
Over a hundred took up the offer.
«I took this job because the war started and there were no other jobs,» 22-year-old Krystyna said.
For five months, she has worked as a technician 470 metres (1,542 feet) below ground, servicing the small electric trains that haul workers more than 4 kilometres (2.5 miles) from the lift shaft where they descend to the seams of coal.
The mine, a vast tower with shafts running more than 600 metres under the surface, juts out against the flat landscape and the grey November weather.
Reuters was asked by the mine's management for security reasons not to give the exact location of the mine or use the surnames of those interviewed.
Krystyna only resolved to take the job after overcoming her fear of leaving her 4-year-old son, Denys, at home with her mother. Her hometown of Pavlohrad is 100 km (62 miles) from the front, but is often hit by Russian missiles.
The work is interesting but difficult, she said: the battery lids are heavy and the steam can be unpleasant. The pay is good, however, and she feels a sense of duty to stay and do her bit for those who have gone to fight.
Her beloved older brother worked in the same mine. He joined the army two weeks after the start of the full-scale invasion, Krystyna said, adding that she worries greatly about him.
«Our boys were taken to the front, and now we need to support them: there is no one else to work in the mine now.»
Ukraine's coal industry, once one of the largest in
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