The war has taught us to support each other as much as we can. Not only public utilities and emergency services, but also socially responsible businesses come to assistance after regular shelling. Metinvest Pokrovsk Coal is among them.
When the enemy shelled civilians in Pokrovsk and Myrnograd on New Year festivities, including employees of Colliery Group "Pokrovske", the company provided them with assistance and did not leave them alone with their misfortune.
"It was a terrible night, but I am happy to have survived"
Smiling and friendly, calm and helpful, always ready to help - these are the qualities of Maryna Shchepenko, a specialist in the capital construction department of Colliery Group "Pokrovske". On New Year's Eve, the woman and her family were preparing for the holiday. However, the insidious enemy destroyed not only the festive mood but also the house where Marina lived with her grandparents, IDPs from Bakhmut.
"The windows and doors, the cladding, the roof flew out at once. It was very scary, everything was flying. First of all, I was worried not about myself, but about my family. My grandfather was very stressed, he suffered a stroke and can't speak. And my grandmother has a bad heart," Maryna SHCHEPENKO recalls the New Year's Eve.
Colliery Group "Pokrovske" helped its employee with the restoration of her house. Her home was heavily damaged as a result of massive Russian shelling. In the morning, restoration work began at the place of incoming strike – the city authorities and socially responsible business already have a well-developed procedure of cooperation.
The companies of Pokrovske Coal Group always come to aid their employees. Colliery Group "Pokrovske" promptly provided construction materials for the restoration of the house.
FIGURE
In total, in 2023, 47 employees of Colliery Group "Pokrovske" who suffered because of Russian aggression received financial assistance worth more than UAH 1.5 million.
"I am very grateful to the management for providing us with a repair team and building materials at the company's expense. These are slate, PVC film, nails, OSB sheets to close the windows – almost everything we need to restore the house after the shelling," says Maryna.
She notes that this is a very powerful support, as it would have been impossible to buy this amount of building materials on their own. The company also provided a team of the construction shop of Colliery Group "Pokrovske". The team is currently working to restore the roof, which was damaged the most. At the same time, the broken windows were covered with OSB sheets.
"The enemy took away the most valuable thing I have"
Before the war, Sergii Samofalov worked as an electrician at Colliery Group "Pokrovske". He has fifteen years of underground experience and has been a team leader for almost all of that time. People say that Sergii is a valuable specialist. After all, the smooth operation of the longwall depends on the professional work of electricians.
"I have always been attracted to locksmithing, I like to repair things, I like working with electric current and I am not afraid of it. That's why I chose the profession of an electrician. But when the war broke out, someone had to defend Ukraine, so I ended up at the front," says Sergii SAMOFALOV.
While the miner was fighting in the 54th Brigade, his beloved family was waiting for him at home. A few years ago, they fulfilled their long-held dream of buying their own house. Back then, no one could have imagined that in just one moment he would lose his dearest people.
On Christmas Eve, the whole family gathered in the house. The Samofalovs' mother, brother and his wife, and nephews came to sing Christmas carols. Sergii was not allowed to go home, so he said hello via video. It was the last moment the soldier saw his family alive. Russians fired six missiles at civilians. One of them destroyed the Samofalovs' house, and his life along with it. Thanks to circumstances, Serhii's wife and younger daughter survived because they were away at the time.
"I have no words to describe my pain. Now there is only a shell crater in my heart. Along with my family, I lost myself. I need to live somehow, at least to take revenge on the enemy for what the Russians are doing to Ukrainians. I don't know how my life will go on, whether I will come back alive. But I am very grateful to the colliery group for their support. It makes me feel a little warmer that you are not alone with your misfortune," says Sergii.
