Ukraine can offer the bulk of its large storage sites (30 bcm, mainly in Western Ukraine) for use by European companies, but security risks mean that European traders have so far made limited use of this option 9. Lower storage utilisation weighs on the revenue and profitability of Ukraine’s system operator.
Since 2022, Russian targeting of Ukraine's power infrastructure has sought to destabilise the electricity system by disabling large coal and gas-fired generation units and key parts of the transmission network.
Before the 2022 invasion, Ukraine's power system was interconnected with the Russian and Belarussian grids. Plans had been in place since 2017 to synchronize with the continental Europe system in 2023.
Ukraine’s air defences provided some protection, but the scale of the attack and the resulting disruption highlighted once again the vital strategic importance of Ukraine’s energy sector, as well as the ever-present risks to the country’s energy supply.
Ukraine’s energy system 1 has been regularly targeted by Russia since its full-scale invasion in 2022, with attacks intensifying since the spring of 2024. The targeting of energy infrastructure has had wide-ranging consequences for the provision of energy to Ukrainian households and other consumers.
Interconnection with the main European system 4 has made a crucial contribution to Ukraine’s electricity security, with the limit on cross-border trade 5 increasing to 1.7 GW in November 2023. Before the 2022 invasion, Ukraine's power system was interconnected with the Russian and Belarussian grids.