Denys Shmyhal spoke to journalists about priorities in preparing for the next heating season.
The First Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine and Minister of Energy, Denys Shmyhal, held a meeting with journalists to discuss the conclusion of the winter period and the Ministry of Energy’s priorities for preparing for the upcoming heating season.
“Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, over 5,900 attacks have been carried out against Ukraine’s energy sector. The damage has been significant, but the energy system has held. Our task now is to prepare as thoroughly as possible for the next winter,” Shmyhal said.
The Minister outlined the key areas of preparation for the 2026/2027 heating season.
First and foremost is the restoration and protection of energy facilities. Shmyhal noted that since the start of the heating season, 9 GW of generation capacity has been damaged, with plans to restore approximately 4 GW.
“We are deploying a new energy security architecture: protection of critical nodes, strategic reserves, distributed generation, with an ambitious goal of adding an additional 1.5 GW. We plan to mobilize 5 billion euros from partners in 2026 to meet all these needs,” the Minister emphasized.
Regarding the formation of necessary reserves for operational repairs, Shmyhal said work is underway to acquire equipment from decommissioned European CHP and thermal power plants.
The Minister also highlighted a new approach in working with partners:
“We are developing an ‘Energy Ramstein’ and forming a unified energy project portfolio. We continue to work on expanding electricity transmission capacity from the EU. The plan for the next two years is to increase it to 3.5 GW,” Shmyhal said.
Another focus area is the development of joint oil and gas projects with partners: expanding the Vertical Gas Corridor, utilizing Ukrainian gas storage facilities, and restoring operations of the Odesa–Brody pipeline.
“This winter, Ukraine won the battle for light. We are not stopping. We are preparing the energy system for new challenges,” Denys Shmyhal stressed.
