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Brzeszcze Coal Mine

Silesia

It was built in 1903–1906 after the search for coal in that area was initiated by the financier from Kraków, Arnold Chaim de Porada Rapaport. The coal mine became operational in 1907. In 1930, due to the Great Depression, the expansion of the plant, then owned by the State Treasury, was suspended. During the Nazi German occupation, prisoners of the Auschwitz concentration camp worked there at that time. In 2015, the mine was merged with Silesia Coal Mine, and in 2015 it was intended for liquidation (it generated almost PLN 250 net loss per ton!). However, the miners started to protest, and Tauron took over the mine.

29.37 kilometers – at the time of writing this report, separating Kramatorsk, the temporary capital of the Donetsk Oblast, from the front line. One third of the 220,000 inhabitants remained. In the deserted city you can see mostly soldiers. They head to the front or return from it to rest for a while. The fate of Kramatorsk and eastern Ukraine depends on the outcome of fierce fighting. Military trucks and heavy equipment rush to nearby Bakhmut every day.