Coal mining has historically been an important industry in Ukraine. Coal mining in Ukraine is often associated with coal-rich Donets basin. However this is not the only coal mining region, other being Lviv-Volhynian basin and Dnieper brown coal mining basin. The Donets basin located in the eastern Ukraine is the most developed and much bigger coal mining region in the country.
Samarska Coal Mine, near Ternivka
A 1921 Russian poster, with the caption Donbass is the heart of Russia
Mine in Lysychansk late 19th century in the Russian empire
Mine in Lysychansk late 19th century in the Russian empire
Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant
The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station in southeastern Ukraine is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe and among the 10 largest in the world. It has been under Russian control since 2022. It was built by the Soviet Union near the city of Enerhodar, on the southern shore of the Kakhovka Reservoir on the Dnieper river. It is operated by Energoatom, who operate Ukraine's other three nuclear power stations.
Two cooling towers at left, one largely obscured by the other, and the six reactor buildings viewed from the Nikopol shore. The large building between the cooling towers and the reactors, and the two tall smokestacks, are at the Zaporizhzhia thermal power station, beyond the nuclear plant.
Reactor 2 during the September 2022 IAEA inspection
The dry cask storage facility for spent nuclear fuel
IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi and mission team members at the plant in September 2022