Meet the Ukrainian women working in coal mines amid ceasefire negotiations

The miners are creating power for Ukrainian electricity and heating stations, key energy infrastructure that has come under frequent Russian attacks.

PAVLOHRAD, Ukraine — They are Ukraine’s “Rosie the Riveters,” rolling up their sleeves and doing a dirty job once considered suitable only for men.

But unlike their American equivalents in World War II, they’re not working in defense-industry factories. Instead they’re going 900 feet underground, helping to dig coal and keep the power on, replacing the men who left to fight Russia. Now they’re hopeful that President Donald Trump can secure a ceasefire deal and bring an end to the war, which entered its fourth year in February.

“We really wanted to help and to replace those men who went to fight and to protect Ukraine,” Nadiya Moskalenko told NBC News on Thursday.

The 48-year-old grandmother said two of her sons had volunteered to fight Russia, and a few months after President Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion in February 2022, she signed up to go down the 50-year-old mine on the outskirts of the city of Pavlohrad in eastern Ukraine.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/ukraine-women-coal-mines-energy-ceasefire-zelenskyy-rcna197219

---