#Russian aggression

Every winter since 2022, Ukraine has lived through what people now call Blackout —mass power outages Russian missile and drone attacks caused. While Russia spends billions to plunge ordinary people into darkness, thousands of energy workers are doing the extraordinary to keep the country’s lights on.

We meet 31-year-old Vitalii Veres in a hospital ward. On the bed opposite, sits his girlfriend. “I always tell her: don’t let go of me or I’ll get lost,” Vitalii jokes. A few days from now, he will have surgery to prepare a fitting for a prosthetic eye. For now—while he has some free time—he’s working on his social media blog.