At a meeting on January 12, the Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers outlined "priorities, important tasks and projects for 2022."

The Prime Minister of the country Denis Shmygal announced this in his Telegram channel.

“The main directions of development for us remain: transformation of medicine and education, improvement of social standards, support for sports and culture, energy independence, economic development and large-scale infrastructure projects, digitalization,” the official said.

The Ukrainian authorities intend to pay special attention to energy.

As Shmygal noted, the country's energy independence is the government's “constant priority”.

“Among our tasks for 2022: the integration of gas and electricity markets with EU markets, the development of nuclear generation (construction of new NPP units and diversification of nuclear fuel supplies), increasing the production of our own energy resources and the transformation of coal regions,” he added.

Coal collapse

Let us remind you that in the current heating season, Ukraine has faced a tangible fuel shortage.

For example, on January 4, due to lack of fuel, 23 units and 1 building of the TPP and TPP with a total capacity of 6.85 GW were turned off.

Such interruptions have been observed for a long time.

According to Ukrenergo, in mid-November 2021, the lack of fuel caused the downtime of 23 units of thermal power plants (TPP) and combined heat and power plants (CHP) with a total capacity of 7.85 GW.

  • TPP in the Kiev region

  • AP

  • © Sergei Chuzavkov

At the same time, Ukraine has significant coal reserves.

However, as a result of the conflict in Donbass, Kiev has lost access to most of the mines located in the region.

As a result, starting in the summer of 2014, coal supply interruptions began in the country.

The general deterioration of the mine fund of Ukraine added to the problems.

And if earlier the government regularly subsidized unprofitable coal enterprises, now, according to the requirements of the IMF, the state must get rid of unprofitable mines.

To keep the energy sector afloat, the Ukrainian authorities until 2017 resorted to purchasing fuel from the self-proclaimed republics of Donbass.

However, then there was a complete rupture of economic ties with the east of the country - Kiev began to import coal from other countries.

Coal supplies from Donbass are generally viewed by the current Ukrainian authorities as a crime.

So, in December 2021, the ex-president of the country, Petro Poroshenko, was charged with high treason for organizing a "criminal scheme" for supplying coal from the "temporarily occupied territories."

According to the State Bureau of Investigation of Ukraine, Poroshenko, who is now the leader of the European Solidarity party, allegedly used his powers to break contracts for the supply of coal from South Africa and facilitated the signing of contracts for the supply of coal from the territories of Donbass.

"Stage of exhaustion"


Experiencing a shortage of solid fuel, in December 2021, the Ukrainian Ministry of Energy announced plans to transfer part of thermal power plants and thermal power plants to natural gas instead of coal. 

However, gas reserves in Ukraine are also small - at the beginning of 2022 they amounted to only 13.5 billion cubic meters.

m. For comparison, at the beginning of last year, the volume of natural gas in Ukrainian underground gas storage facilities amounted to 23.5 billion cubic meters.

m of gas.

Before Euromaidan, Ukraine purchased natural gas from Russia.

At the end of 2013, Moscow and Kiev once again agreed on the supply of Russian fuel to Ukraine at preferential rates.

The parties agreed that the discount will be determined at the beginning of each new quarter.

But in 2014, Kiev violated the terms of the agreement - Moscow in response refused the system of discounts.

  • Denis Shmygal

  • AFP

  • © Sergei SUPINSKY

In 2015, the Ukrainian authorities stopped direct gas imports from Russia.

Instead, Kiev began to buy the same Russian gas through European intermediaries using a virtual reverse scheme.  

As Igor Yushkov, an expert at the Financial University under the Russian government and a leading analyst at the National Energy Security Fund, recalled in an interview with RT, despite statements about the refusal of Russian gas, in practice Ukraine has continued to buy Russian-produced fuel in recent years.

“So there will be no real integration with the European market, which is being discussed in the Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers.

As for the plans to increase its own gas production, the Ukrainian coal deposits are already at the stage of natural depletion, they have been developed almost since the 30s-40s of the last century.

Therefore, our own production is only decreasing, ”the expert explained.

The coal industry is also experiencing similar problems, Yushkov added.

As the expert noted, Ukraine cannot increase coal production.

“It's not even clear what the Ukrainian government means when they talk about the transformation of coal regions,” the expert noted.

Political scientist, economist Alexander Dudchak, in a commentary on RT, explained that although there are coal mines in the territories of Donbass controlled by Kiev, anthracite coal is mined only on the territory of the self-proclaimed republics.

“And this type of coal, which is very important for the Ukrainian economy, Kiev now has to import.

At the same time, until recently, the lion's share of Ukrainian coal imports was from Russia.

In fact, Ukraine uses not only Russian gas, but also Russian coal, despite all the statements about breaking off relations with the Russian Federation, ”the expert noted.

"De-industrialization policy"

At the end of 2021, Volodymyr Zelenskyy made a soothing speech to the citizens of the country, promising that the state would not leave anyone without warmth and light.

Then he added that "the state has prepared nuclear energy."

Although the country's priority for Kiev is the construction of new power units, in fact, production is increasing due to the active operation of old Soviet-built nuclear power plants.

  • Zaporizhzhya NPP

  • RIA News

  • © Falin

So, if in 2013 nuclear power plants accounted for about 43% of all electricity generated in the country, then in 2016 the share of nuclear power plants was already 52.4%.

In December 2021, this figure reached 60%, Energoatom reported.

The increase was due to the connection to the grid after the repair of the second power unit of the Zaporizhzhya NPP.

At the same time, Kiev still hopes in the future not only to build new nuclear power plants, but also from 2027 to start providing nuclear power plants with their own fuel.

The corresponding plans were enshrined in the strategy for the development of the uranium industry, which was approved by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine at the end of 2021.

However, experts doubt that the plans of the Ukrainian authorities are destined to come true.

“Kiev simply does not have the money to build new nuclear power plants.

For example, now two old power units at the Rivne NPP need to be decommissioned.

It costs relatively little money, but Ukraine does not even have such funds.

In fact, the country cannot cope even with those nuclear power plants that operate on its territory.

Some of them have already exhausted their resources, but the country's authorities do not have the funds to close them, "Igor Yushkov explained.

According to the expert, there is no real ground under the promises of the Ukrainian government.

“The authorities are forced to make some promises to the population in a crisis situation.

But it is not even clear yet how Ukraine will end the current heating season.

The government is simply trying to calm the people down with such announcements, ”Yushkov said.

  • Coal mine in Donetsk region

  • RIA News

  • © Sergey Averin

Alexander Dudchak adheres to a similar point of view.

According to the expert, when speaking about the energy independence of Ukraine, politicians are cunning - rather, it is about the fact that, having severed ties with Russia, the country will become completely dependent on Western partners.

“The leaders of Ukraine are turning everything upside down.

But the population has not believed these statements for a long time, it is already clear to many that under the pretext of striving for “independence” from Russia, the Ukrainian government is pursuing a policy of de-industrializing the country, ”summed up Oleksandr Dudchak.