«They were shooting from all sides.» The story of an electrician who returned light to the homes of Mykolaiv residents during the explosions

Mykola Zozulynets, head of Mykolaivoblenergo airline service, photo NikVesti

Mykola Zozulynets worked almost all his life in the energy sector, for 25 years at Mykolaivoblenergo. Now he holds the position of head of the company's airline service. At one time, he built half of these lines with his own hands. Since the beginning of the Great War, he has been working to provide light to the residents of the Mykolaiv region, and received the Order «For Courage» III degree.

Many of his colleagues were evacuated from the city due to war danger, but Mykola Zozulynets refused to leave Mykolaiv. Instead, he independently went to the places of arrivals and inspected the damaged power grids. In order to restore light to the homes of Mykolaiv residents, they had to work in dangerous conditions every time: the brigade repeatedly came under fire, restored networks in mined areas and, unfortunately, had cases of mine explosions. The story of the Mykolaiv engineer Mykola Zozulynets in the material of NikVesti.

Why was not you evacuated from Mykolaiv: «No one canceled the work»

Mykola Zozulynets recalls that on February 24, 2022, he was at home with his wife. The couple woke up to the sounds of explosions in the vicinity of the Kulbakine airfield — they saw the consequences of the Russian shelling of the city with their own eyes.

«At first I thought that maybe the planes were taking off, but then the explosions started. Relatives who live in Shyroka Balka (Mykolaiv microdistrict, — note), not far from the airfield, immediately hid in the basement. They practically lived there for a month and a half due to constant shelling,» the man recalls.

Mykola Zozulynets refused to leave his native Mykolaiv, although he received such offers from relatives from abroad. «There wasn't even a thought of going anywhere,» the man answered confidently.

«There were calls, there were offers to drop everything and move, but I worked in the energy sector almost all my life. I once built half of the lines that we currently service. Therefore, it would be wrong to throw everything like that. Especially, considering that Oblenergo has few employees left, let's say, the old guard. Now we have young guys who don't really or fully understand networking. There was no thought of going anywhere,» he said.

Mykola Zozulynets shows the wires and equipment of Oblenergo destroyed by Russian shelling, photo NikVesti

On the first day of the Russian invasion, Mykola Zozulynets came to work at «Mykolaivoblenergo».

«No one canceled the work,» the man says with a smile. In a few days, the networks of enterprises in Snihurivka and Mykolaiv have already begun to come under fire. Their repair was complicated by the lack of workers in the service headed by him. Some of them live in Gur'ivka and Peresadivka, the connection with which was cut off in the first weeks of the war due to the advance of Russian troops. Therefore, energy workers had no physical opportunity to get to work.

«Literally in the first days, Peresadivka was under occupation, Russian troops were stationed in the Hurivka area. People simply could not physically get here. One man was under occupation, the other could not leave. In fact, there were four of us at that time, and with them we started the work of restoring the networks. We had to work with these forces,» the man recalls.

Throughout March 2022, the energy workers worked without days off, says Mykola Zozulynets: «Since March 5, 2022, there was practically no day that we did not leave. We had neither Saturday nor Sunday. We worked until late until we complete the repair of this or that object».

It often took a long time to restore the networks, and it was necessary to return home already at the curfew, which then began at 6:00 p.m. Under such circumstances, the policemen who accompanied them in official cars helped the energy workers to reach the house.

Oblenergo repair crew, photo NikVesti provided by the company's press service

Seven explosions of energy workers on mines during the war

First of all, it was Mykola Zozulynets who went to inspect the damaged networks, and after that a team of power engineers was sent to repair them. The first such trip, the man recalls, was with the newly appointed general director of «Mykolaivoblenergo» Vadym Danylkov. At that time, most of Mykolaiv was left without electricity due to damaged lines, and it was necessary to urgently leave for their inspection. It was risky, because the damaged networks were located in the Hurivka area, which is 22 kilometers north of Mykolaiv, where the Russian military was already stationed. Mykola Zozulynets recalls that the inspection of the lines was very fast. After all, as soon as they reached the location, the shelling began almost immediately. However, they still managed to assess the state of the networks and return to the enterprise unscathed.

The damaged network of «Mykolaivoblenergo», the photo was provided by the press service of the company

In general, every departure was dangerous, says Mykola Zozulynets. The brigade often came under enemy fire, the most terrible happened in the Horohivka district (Voskresenske community). This village is located near Mykolaiv in the direction of Snigurivka.

«We were waiting for the hydraulic lift to fix the damaged wire. The equipment had to come from Odessa. While we were waiting, the shelling started. We had nowhere to go, as they were shooting from all sides. It was scary then,» Mykola Zozulynets recalls those events.

But the man was most concerned not about his own life, but about the safety of his subordinates. The most difficult thing is to send people to repair lines in potentially mined areas, the man shares. Before the work of energy workers, such areas are inspected by sappers of the State Emergency Service (SES), but even this cannot guarantee safety. The brigades have a sad experience of such work — seven mine explosions during the war, one case was fatal.

«It's scary not so much for yourself, but for people. Almost all the damage was in the areas of the demarcation zone. The state emergency service demined only a certain lane, and if you turn left or right, who knows what might be there. A brigade from Voznesensk was working and they hit a mine. One was seriously injured and, unfortunately, died in the hospital,» says Mykola Zozulynets.

Mykola Zozulynets, head of Mykolaivoblenergo airline service, photo «Nikvesti"

They followed the sappers: how they returned the light to the liberated Snihurivka and Kherson

In November 2022, part of Mykolaiv Oblast and Kherson were liberated from occupation. At that time, Mykolaiv energy companies had a successful experience with the restoration of electricity supply to the liberated Snihurivka and Kherson.

«The Russians left behind many mines and dangerous ammunition. That is why sappers worked in the first place. After them, we went and restored power lines. We quickly restored the electricity supply to Snihurivka and Kherson. Since Kherson mainly received power from the left bank, and it is still occupied by the enemy, we supplied power from our side,»s ays Mykola.

Oblenergo wires destroyed by Russian shelling, photo NikVesti

They did not expect that tens of kilometers of wires would be needed

The situation was the most difficult in the area of Horohivka and Voskresenske, says the man. The power lines located there were constantly under Russian fire. Mykola Zozulynets explained that it was neither possible nor meaningful to fully restore those networks, so they were repaired to such a state in order to restore light to people. The professionalism and creativity of the energy workers themselves played an important role in this.

«Our positions were there, and our power lines were above them. They were mercilessly beaten with Multiple rocket launcher (MRL). Which we just didn't do. I remember how we collected three of those 12 wires and energized the substation just to provide people with electricity. It was still winter then, and if there is no electricity, then there is no water and heating. In fact, we did not really repair, but rather tied knots to at least provide consumers with light. We did everything that allowed us to more or less maintain the electricity supply. We have restored the lines to supply power to people, and major repairs are still to come,» the energy engineer said.

Mykola Zozulynets with wires provided by partners for powering networks, photo NikVesti

The shortage of materials for the restoration of electricity supply was faced already in the first days of the full-scale war.

«We did not expect that we would need tens of kilometers of wires or hundreds of insulators or connectors,» says Mykola Zozulynets.

There were also problems with specialized equipment, the energy engineer recalls: «Our highest autohydraulic lift was 26 meters, and some power lines and poles are located at a height of more than 30 meters».

Energy workers are restoring the light supply with the help of an autohydraulic lift, photo NikVesti provided by the company's press service

For example, in Mykolaiv, there is such a support on Kosmonavtiv Street, where at one time there was an arrival.

«We restored it with the help of a crane provided to us by the rescuers. After all, a bigger tower was needed there, which, unfortunately, we didn't have.» The situation changed when humanitarian aid began to arrive at the enterprise: such materials and equipment were needed. But even today there are networks that need full repair or replacement,» says Mykola Zozulynets.

With sadness in his eyes, he added: «I hope that when peace comes we will overhaul all these lines. But now, unfortunately, everything has remained the same».

The conversation was conducted by Yuliia Boichenko, NikVesti

Photo and video: Serhii Ovcharyshyn