Invasion increases risks for Ukraine's coal mines

STORY: Even underground, there is no escaping Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The conflict has thrown up huge new problems for the country’s coal mines - from miners leaving to fight, to air strikes on facilities.

But the mines keep running, in what operators see as an act of defiance that is vital to the war effort.

Viktor Kuznetsov îs chief engineer at one mine in eastern Ukraine:

"We are faced with new challenges, new problems that have arisen in our production flow. This includes difficulty with the supply of equipment. Another challenge is people who've left as well as our newcomers. There are problems caused by missile attacks that lead to power outages. Last year, there were several times when we had to stop production.”

Kuznetsov says more than 400 workers have been mobilised since fighting began last year.

Some have since been replaced by other workers, including people displaced by war.

The mine has also faced missile strikes and problems with supplies.

Miner Andrii Yurkov is one who was displaced by war.

He says the fighting has come all too close:

"Well, as they say, the war has come here too. During one of the shifts, when we were working underground, there was a hit on the power plant and the mine lost power. And we had to go out though emergency exits. There was no power inside the mine. We had to get out through the emergency exits.”

Engineer Kuznetsov says the mine kept going because it had prepared for eventualities including loss of power.

But an already hazardous job has been made a whole lot more risky.