Ukraine's coal mines turn to women to solve wartime staff shortages

Krystyna, 22-years-old, stands next to a mine train battery at her workplace at an underground mine, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine November 17, 2023. REUTERS/Alina Smutko

PAVLOHRAD, Ukraine (Reuters) - After more than a thousand of its workers went to fight Russia's invasion, a coal mining enterprise in eastern Ukraine suffered a huge staff shortage. Its answer was to allow women to work underground for the first time in its history.

Over a hundred took up the offer.