Mass layoffs of energy workers reported in occupied Donbas – Ukraine's National Resistance Centre

Ukraine's National Resistance Center has reported that mass layoffs have been recorded among energy sector specialists in occupied Donetsk Oblast.

Source: Ukraine's National Resistance Center

Quote: "The cuts affect more than a thousand electricians who serviced substations and energy infrastructure and who were transferred in May 2025 from REK [Regional Energy Supplying Company in the so-called Donetsk People's Republic – ed.] to the newly created South-West Electric Grid Company. In December, they were informed of a complete staff reduction effective 1 March 2026."

Details: According to the NRC sources, the decision was taken through an internal "vote" by management and provides for ending the permanent presence of staff at substations. Instead, a model of maintenance only by call-out teams is being introduced.

Quote: "Given the worn-out equipment, regular accidents and damage to power transmission lines, this will sharply increase the risk of prolonged outages in the temporarily occupied territories.

Particular concern is raised by the profile of those being laid off: most are specialists with many years of experience, predominantly women of middle and pre-retirement age. For them, dismissal in a frontline region without alternative employment or retraining programmes effectively means the loss of their livelihoods."

More details: NRC, citing analysts, said that such decisions directly affect the resilience of the oblast's critical infrastructure. They say that the absence of on-site staff at substations makes a rapid response to emergencies impossible, even when critical infrastructure is involved.

Quote: "Through such measures, the occupation authorities are effectively acknowledging that uninterrupted power supply is no longer a priority."

More details: NRC says that the dismissals are not accidental and form part of broader management policy in the temporarily occupied territories.

Quote: "The occupation authorities are seeking to cut costs at the expense of basic life-support sectors for the population, treating critical infrastructure not as a safety guarantee but as a budgetary expense to be reduced without regard for consequences."

Background:

• NRC reported earlier a staffing and financial collapse at state-owned companies in occupied Kherson Oblast, saying that striking workers were being replaced with students in a Soviet-style model of "student construction brigades".
• It was also reported earlier that the management of 1,600 residential buildings in the temporarily occupied part of Kherson Oblast, with a total area of almost 2.9 million sq m, has been transferred to the so-called Unified Management Company.
• It was reported earlier that the Russian occupying authorities in Kherson Oblast claimed they had completed the construction of a government quarter near the town of Henichesk, although the buildings were erected before the full-scale invasion.
• Over 3,000 companies based in the temporarily occupied part of Kherson Oblast have been registered in the Russian business register since 24 February 2022.
• It was reported in September that employees of the Askania-Nova biosphere reserve in Kherson Oblast, which was illegally established by the Russian occupiers, had not been paid their salaries since July.
• It was also reported that the water situation is rapidly deteriorating in the temporarily occupied part of Kherson Oblast: groundwater levels have dropped, crop yields have sharply declined, and the Russian authorities are taking no action.

Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!