Preparing for the next heating season: Kharkiv CHPP-5 is looking for donors

Kharkiv CHPP-5 has passed the 2022/2023 heating season has passed bravely. It was the most challenging year in the history of the whole country, and for the heat and power plant, it was also full of enemy attacks and direct hits.

The head of CHPP-5, Oleksandr Minkovich, said the plant is undergoing repair and restoration.

«Unfortunately, the Kharkiv region is fully experiencing the destructive power of rocket attacks. CHPP-5 also suffered serious damage. However, having accumulated all our human, financial, material and administrative resources, we managed to preserve the main capacities of the thermal power plant. Thus, during the heating season, we ensured reliable and sustainable operation of the Kharkiv power centre of the Northern Power System, and Kharkiv residents’ homes were supplied with light and heat,» said Oleksandr Minkovich.

Humanitarian hub = 20 partner organisations = 263 tonnes of aid to Slobozhans

With the assistance of the Kharkiv Regional Military Administration headed by Oleg Sinegubov, CHPP-5 has significantly strengthened its social activities. From the first days of the war, the plant set up a Humanitarian Hub. This work was launched by the plant’s head Oleksandr Minkovich and volunteer Dmitry Kiselev, and the initiative was immediately supported by «The Future for Children» Charitable Foundation.

Over this period, the Humanitarian Hub of CHPP-5 engaged 20 different partner and charity organisations to collect and provide assistance to the communities adjacent to the plant, which was especially necessary during the region’s most acute and hottest phases of the war.

These include «Poltavateploenergo», headed by Oleksandr Oleksenko, Chernivtsi Regional State Administration, «Quality of Life» Foundation, Igor Vovchanchyn Charitable Foundation, «100 Causes» International Charitable Foundation, «Renaissance and Support» Foundation, and «Kvant» Business Group; Charitable Foundation «Eastern Frontier», BlueCheckUkraine; Ukrainian Christian Charitable Foundation «Pokrov», «Global Empowerment Mission»; Pharmaceutical companies Gedeon Richter Plc (represented by Istvan Jakubovics), Béres Pharma (Ferenc Major), Medochemie Ltd (Yiannakis Mouzouris) and Charitable Foundation «Pharmacy» (Vitaliy Arkhipov); Charitable Foundation «Help in palms».

Behind this list of names of charitable foundations, organisations, and institutions — is the daily work of particular people and their contribution to survival, resilience and common victory, says Oleksandr Minkovich.

For example, the legendary volunteer Zinaida Soroka from the Holy Protection Church in Uman delivered 2-4 tonnes of food to the Humanitarian Hub every week, despite the hazardous route.

And thanks to «OKKO» fuel station supervisor for the Kharkiv region Margarita Bolotova, the volunteers of the Hub always received the fuel first, even in the face of an acute shortage, and quickly delivered the provisions to the residents of the region, who were effectively cut off from the centres of civilisation by intense rocket and artillery fire.

In just 14 months of the war, the Humanitarian Hub managed to concentrate and deliver about 263 tonnes of food and household goods to the residents of Kharkiv Oblast, including 229 tonnes of food, 8 tonnes of hygiene products, 7.3 tonnes of baby clothes, 7 tonnes of household goods and household chemicals, 6.7 tonnes of baby food and 5 tonnes of adult items.

The volunteer battalion

Volunteering in the Humanitarian Hub’s activities deserves special attention. For example, 17 volunteers of CHPP-5 from Lviv, Poltava and Kharkiv have always ensured reliable logistics of goods from the western borders to the east of the country, sometimes risking their lives to deliver food, medicine and other essentials to the elderly and families with small children. In addition, the volunteers of the Hub have always been there where transport links are problematic, trade is suspended, and the humanitarian situation is complicated.

«I never get tired of naming these people and thanking them for their concern, courage and sometimes self-sacrifice,» says the head of CHPP-5. – «Kharkiv residents Dmitry Kiselev, Viktor Borovsky, Bogdan Aleksandrov, Vladimir Serebryansky, Dmitry Orishkin, Vitaly Ereshchenko, Dmitry Lunin, Igor Serebryansky, Ruslan Pestryakov, Irina Bazdyreva-Starodubtseva and Vladimir Starodubtsev; Natalia Khodes from Poltava; Bohdan Okolita, Vasyl Martsenyuk, Viktor Drobiazko and Inna Konchuga from Lviv; Tatiana Minkovich from Bratislava (Slovakia) – all of them and each of them individually are the pride and support of the Humanitarian Hub».

However, according to Oleksandr Minkovych, these are not the only people who perform the current tasks of the Humanitarian Hub. In fact, there are many people involved in volunteering. These include the entire staff of Kharkiv CHPP-5, employees of the Main Directorate of the State Emergency Service in Kharkiv Oblast headed by Oleksandr Volobuyev, employees of the State Fire and Rescue Unit No. 37 under the leadership of Serhiy Zhyzhin, and the guard service of the State Fire and Rescue Unit No. 37 headed by Oleksandr Krupa. In the initial stages, the Hub was assisted by rescue units that met the humanitarian aid from the western border, unloaded and sent to the recipient tonnes of humanitarian aid.

Brothers from Nuremberg

In the autumn of 2022, the war and its unpredictable ways sent volunteers of the CHPP-5 Humanitarian Hub to Germany. In Nuremberg, Kharkiv’s twin city, the Ukrainian diaspora was actively collecting generators, lanterns, clothes and food for the needs of the most affected regions of our country.

Raisa Trofymenko, a teacher from Kharkiv who has been living in Germany for a long time, helped the Humanitarian Hub to reach a new level of support for Slobozhanshchyna. Thanks to her, 15 hospitals in Kharkiv Oblast have improved their material base.

«When certain agreements were reached between the head of the Kharkiv Regional Military Administration, Oleg Sinegubov and the mayor of Nuremberg, Markus König, organisational issues were resolved very quickly at the level of the teams of both sides. As a result, the Humanitarian Hub received the first batch of medical equipment in November last year,» said Oleksandr Minkovich.

According to him, 8 trucks with equipment for healthcare facilities in the Kharkiv region were delivered to the Hub over the next few months. This includes 2 high-precision anaesthesia and breathing machines, 1 ultrasound machine and 1 ECG machine, more than 530 functional beds, 115 medical cabinets.

«This example of support for the Ukrainian diaspora from abroad once again reminds us of the need to communicate with our countrymen living outside our country. If we in the Kharkiv region volunteer at the frontline, Ukrainians abroad are our rear. As it turned out, it is reliable and robust.

To the already mentioned friends from Nuremberg, the Humanitarian Hub has added representatives of the Mayor’s Office for International Relations, Daniel Nefaril, Sylvia Preiser and Christina Schussler, and Alexander Lissack, co-chairman of the Jewish community of Nuremberg, Antje Rempe, head of the Nuremberg-Kharkiv Sister Cities Association, Mr Brandl, director of the technical department of «Klinikum Nord», and Mr Schug, member of the board of «Klinikum Nord», as well as representatives of the Ukrainian diaspora, Vyacheslav Adlevankin, Iryna and Ruben Born. Therefore, we thank everyone, we are proud of our friendship with everyone», said Oleksandr Minkovich.

Kharkiv CHPP-5 is looking for donors

«This war has made us work harder, feel and sympathise more deeply. The heating plant operated 24/7 to keep the Kharkiv metropolis alive and its residents feeling more secure in the midst of war and frost. I believe that the domestic and foreign partners of the Humanitarian Hub and our volunteer battalion have done a lot for this.

Now we are actively looking for donors, sponsors and funds to restore the station. The damage caused by the enemy has levelled out the lion’s share of the modernisation achievements that have been systematically accumulated over the years at CHPP-5. Today, our company is facing an important task to restore the thermal and electrical capacities of the CHPP lost due to missile strikes. The region’s critical infrastructure, including Kharkiv CHPP-5, must be 100% ready for the 2023/2024 heating season. The welfare of the Kharkiv community depends on this,» said Oleksandr Minkovich, Head of CHPP-5.