In eastern Ukraine's coal fields, Russia's invasion sparks hopes of a comeback

INSIDE A COAL MINE, Ukraine — A little more than 4 miles into a mine, in the newfound relative comfort of being over 1,000 feet underground, eastern Ukrainian coal miners position a drill bit on a dark rock wall.

A series of beeps echoes in the dimly lit tunnel, hydraulics hum and the spiked spherical bit spins into a blur before it brushes the wall, filling the cavern with a cloud of thick, muting dust.

This is Ukraine's "energy front line," says Aliona Samarska, an employee of the privately owned coal mine. NPR is not using the mine's name or location for security reasons. Despite mining's own familiar dangers, Samarska says many miners say they feel safer underground. And this front line could be just as critical to the war effort, Ukrainian officials say, as the artillery-lined trenches