As men fight, women keep Ukraine coal mines going

STORY: For the first time, women at this Ukrainian mining enterprise are allowed to work underground.

This colliery in eastern Ukraine faced a staffing shortage when more than a thousand of its workers went to fight Russia's invasion, making women workers its answer.

More than a hundred took up the offer.

Natalia used to work in a shop that sold appliances. Now she is a mine technician and electrician.

"This indeed is a job for men, it's a hard job. We help our men. I think in the future, even more women will work here. We already have women that work as mine lift operators, we work as electricians. There are even some women working as miners."

Krystyna's brother used to work at the colliery before he left to join the army. She says she initially took the job because many other local businesses were shuttered when the war broke out.

For five months, she has worked 470 meters below ground, servicing the small electric trains that carry workers more than two miles from the lift shaft where they descend to the seams of coal.

"It's very hard to work here, especially lifting the battery lids and breathing in the fumes when the batteries are charging. But I got used to it, and now I like working here." / "We know that as our guys were taken to the front, now we need to support them: there is no-one else to work in the mine now. There are only women here now. We cannot leave all of this behind and go for other jobs, letting our boys down. We need to support the boys that are at the front now."

Of the thousand miners at this mine and its nearby twin enterprise who went to fight, 42 have been killed.

Many more are wounded, according to management, making it likely that women will remain a key part of mining operations even after the war ends.