The Fight for Light installation, one of the artifacts of the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian war, now features in the permanent exhibition of the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the World War II.
This is a destroyed 40-tonne transformer of one of Ukrainian thermal power plants damaged as a result of numerous massive Russian strikes on the energy infrastructure.
Since September 2024, the installation stood temporarily on Kontraktova Square in Kyiv, where it drew attention from locals and visitors alike. Now, in the 4th year of the enemy’s unprecedented energy terror, it was memorialised in the permanent exhibition of the Museum of War.
The destroyed transformer is only a fragment of the large-scale destruction that Ukraine’s energy sector has endured. Since the onset of the Russian invasion, more than 2,300 missiles and drones have targeted Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. Ukraine has lost 10 GW of generating capacity due to the enemy’s attacks, while another 18 GW remains under occupation, including hydropower plants, thermal stations, and Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant, Europe’s largest nuclear facility.
By transferring the transformer to the National Museum of History, Ukraine takes another step in preserving the truth about the aggressor’s crimes and honouring the resilience of Ukrainians fighting for light, freedom, and dignity.
“Such exhibits are direct evidence of crimes against Ukraine’s civil infrastructure. This artifact offers a tangible reminder of what modern warfare looks like and underscores Russia’s brutal tactics. We must preserve it as a record of the aggressor’s crimes, a symbol of the Ukrainian people’s resilience, and a testament to our fight for energy independence,”
commented Yuriy Savchuk, Director General of the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War.
“This transformer is not just a shard of war - it’s a symbol of struggle of our power engineers, who are bringing electricity back to the homes of millions of Ukrainians daily, often under fire. Its story is the one of our country’s entire energy sector driven by people. We are grateful to the Museum of War History for preserving this memory - not only of past wars, but of the war we are still fighting. Because memory, too, is our weapon,”
said Oleksandr Fomenko, CEO of DTEK Energy.
