you're watching bbc news. the latest headlines coming up, after this feature programme. russian missiles and drones rain down on ukraine's civilian infrastructure, causing untold damage. it's been happening for months. this is ukraine's energy war,

a constant battle for heat and light, with an army of engineers racing to keep the country connected. for ukrainians, it has been a winter of darkness and uncertainty. how does a country respond when the stakes are so high? if the power system collapses, that would mean the suffering of tens of millions of people during wintertime. we cannot allow that, not on my watch.

we follow the teams fighting this war. what the missiles destroy, they rebuild, in places where people are living on the edge. this power plant in central ukraine has been hit repeatedly. it's a huge place, but this is what well—aimed russian missiles have done to the country's infrastructure. missile fragments litter the place. for security reasons, we have been asked not

to identify the plant or its manager. so what happened here? this is where electricity begins its journey from the power plant to the world outside, the first links in a complex chain.

since october, moscow has been working systematically to sever those links, to break the system into pieces, to break the will of the people. every corner of this huge complex bears the scars. while the threat still exists, not everything will be repaired.

millions of people depend on this coal—fired power station, built in the soviet era, its great turbines turning station, built in the soviet era, its great turbines churning away at the heart of ukraine's sprawling power network. fantastic machine. the system now generating half as much electricity as it did a year ago. the staff here know they are in russia's sights. ihor is the plant's chief technician, on duty the morning of the first attack. when he arrived here in the main control room, he found a chaotic scene.

so the whole power station is run from this room. did all of this get switched off?

it's been weeks since the last attack here, the last attack here, but this morning, the alarms keep coming. siren sounds. so there's the siren. we had been expecting it this morning. we have to get out of the turbine hall and head straight for the shelter. incoming missiles have been detected, flying towards ukraine from the south and east. there is time to take cover. on days like these, hours are spent underground. anxious moments as news comes in of a fresh wave of attacks. their colleagues at a power station in the west have taken a direct hit. they know this could have been them, and closer to home, word is spreading

of something much worse. across town, the tragedy is unfolding. a missile has struck an apartment building. the rescue effort is frantic. dozens of people have died here. the missile that did this was huge. designed half a century ago to destroy aircraft carriers. it was almost certainly aimed at the power station. some of russia's attacks are accurate. many are not. russia's assault has brought death and darkness to ukraine's cities. the nights are long and cold, the power cuts frequent. a whole nation plunged into a world of adjustments.

for david, not yet two, it is mostly a game. that's how his parents prefer to keep it, especially when sirens wail and missiles fall. it's 8:30. a power cut is coming. it's time for bed. here we go. yes, yes. there we are, it is 9:10 and a few minutes late but the power cut has begun. after months of this, the fear and the novelty have long gone. this is how millions of ukrainians have learned to spend their evenings —

unfazed, organised.

this war on energy is notjust about ukraine's power stations, it's about the entire infrastructure, the grid that keeps this vast country with electricity and heating. and it's that grid that has been hit over and over again since october. we're off down a rather bumpy road see a piece of that grid now. and again, we cannot tell you where it is.

this is serhii's substation. the place where he has worked for 30 years. since september, he has watched it be demolished, bit by bit, six separate attacks. four months ago, he saw a kamikaze drone destroy the control room and his office, knocking the whole substation off—line, cutting power to millions of people. the attackers knew exactly what they were doing.

the substation�*s 750 kilovolt transformers won't be easy to replace. they weigh 300 tons and take months to produce. only three or four countries in the world make them. one of them is russia. ukraine is scouring the globe, looking for substitutes. we are far from this war�*s frontlines but everyone who works here feels like a soldier. in this forest of machinery, there is a quiet, steely determination. do you feel angry?

for who? we travel on south, towards frontline communities under regularfire. ukraine's battalion of engineers racing from one repairjob to the next. speaks ukrainian this happens all the time, volodymyr tells me. we're on our way to a village shelled just last night. the power lines are down, again. the repairs won't take long but the men know they will be back.

the battle to keep ukraine connected takes many forms — repairing wires, diverting power, concealing what is and is not working. it's a constant struggle, fraught with danger. distant explosions. in the nearby village, the sound of artillery has the mayor ducking for cover.

how long do you think you can carry on living here in this situation? or do people want to leave? in places where the frontlines have moved, there's other work to do. here, teams are busy reconnecting towns and villages cut off behind russian lines for months.

where the army has been, the engineers must follow. speaks ukrainian. fedir is another veteran. his home town is under regular attacks are his wife and grandchildren are living in poland. so his wife and grandchildren are living in poland. he is out in the field every day. pylon by pylon, cable by cable, connections are re—established. these are battered places, scarred by recent conflict. fresh graves speak of long, difficult months and

long, difficult lives. the engineers wait as emergency teams go ahead, inspecting the ground, looking for discarded weapons. it's slow, painstaking work. how long do you think it will take to fix everything?

and while the country waits, it simply copes. city streets echoing to the sound of generators. mobile phones lighting the way. life somehow continuing. and a mounting sense that ukraine has, for now, weathered the storm. this battle is finely balanced between russia's ability to inflict damage and ukraine's efforts to repair it, to give people just enough power to get by.

those who run the grid have no illusions about the struggles ahead. russians failed to take down our system or to cause big disturbance in our system. having said that, unfortunately, they are gradually destroying very important items of equipment in our grid which takes time to be restored. and yet, despite all of this damage, as you travel around this country, it becomes obvious that ukraine is not on its knees. we were prepared and we were very resolved to win this particular bout. we have no other way than to win because if we lose, if our system collapses,

that would mean suffering of tens of millions of people during wintertime. we cannot allow that. when i am asked this question, i often say, "not on my watch". and if somebody told me before that our power grid could stand like 1,000 missiles and drones and still run and still deliver power to consumers, i would probably not believe it but now, we know that we are resilient and we are much more ready now for the new attacks than we have been on the 10th of october. russia thought it would break ukraine but its campaign isn't working. half the grid may be in tatters but in helmets and body armour, these men are keeping it alive.

the war�*s terrible cost is evident wherever you look. the sacrifices have been immense. but power, the lifeblood of a nation, still reaches across the land. hello there.

some places got to see some shame but many did not. the start of the windows, something a little brighter, a better chance of seeing some sunshine, largely dry and it be mild. high pressure to the east keeping it mainly dry. this frontal system starting to push in from the west but it's going to take a while to get it. on monday a lot of dry weather, a lot of cloud across england and wales, the date it tends to linger close to eastern coasts, staying quite murky as well. other areas with spells of sunshine, it brisk southerly breeze particularly around western parts, temperatures 9—12, so it will feel mild particularly if you get yourself into some sunshine. lengthy clear spells through monday night into tuesday, before more cloud rolling in

towards northern ireland and some western fringes. a spot of rain and milder conditions with that. further east where we see clear spells, could start choose early fog in the south will clear. england and wales seeing sunny spells, northern ireland and scotland can expect more cloud and some spots of rain at times with some shelter from the southerly breeze. parts of north wales could see the highest temperatures at around 15 degrees, but it will be mild for all of us. moving out of tuesday and into wednesday, this frontal system finally makes its move. some outbreaks of rain with that, pushing southwards and eastwards. the rain may not get into the far east of england until quite late in the day, in fact, by that stage, the rain will be very light and patchy. behind that we will see showers, wintry over the highest ground in scotland, but broadly speaking

it will stay mild. and mild is certainly the way in which we end the week. we will see some rain at times, things look a little more unsettled. on thursday, a lot of cloud, mist and murk across the southern half of the uk with some splashes of rain. further north, for northern ireland and for scotland, we will see some spells of sunshine and again it is mild, temperatures of 9—13 degrees, above where we should be really at this time of year. friday, this deep area of low pressure pushes close to the north west of scotland. frontal systems bringing outbreaks of rain and between this warm front and this cold front a wedge of mild air. this frontal system pushing southwards and eastwards bringing some outbreaks of rain. strengthening winds to gale force potentially in northern scotland. it is likely to stay dry for many parts of england and wales, particularly towards the south and east, and in that mild air could well see temperatures up to 16 degrees.

that weather front will sweep its way through leaving something slightly cooler for the weekend. high pressure always close by, keeping things mainly dry, down towards the south of the uk, and we could really do with some rain in some southern parts, we have not had much recently. there will be some wet weather further north and west but potentially not an awful lot. broadly speaking, the weather is going to stay relatively mild for the time of year. double digit temperatures for most of us.

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