Coal Dust and Methane Below, Russian Bombs Above

When Aleksander Maryinych enters a metal cage and descends into darkness with dozens of other miners for his six-hour shifts, the concussive thumps of an artillery war are replaced by the clatter of rail carts and the grind of machinery carving deep into the earth.

Plumes of dust and smoke from Russian bombardment are exchanged for clouds of fine coal dust, seeping into the crevices of the miners’ skin and staining their eyebrows black.

“When I’m down in the mine, I forget about the war because I have to concentrate on other things,” said Mr. Maryinych, 33, a drill operator at a private mine run by DTEK in the Dobrapil district in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region. “Everything is black and white, and there are risks.”

Accidents are common in Ukraine’s aging coal mines. Methane gas, a byproduct of coal mining, is highly explosive.

Now, Russia’s heavy, indiscriminate bombing has added yet another threat to Ukraine’s coal mines. Read more

@nytimes