Ukraine calls on the EU to strengthen protection of energy systems and create strategic reserves of equipment
Ukraine is ready to share its experience in energy resilience with the European Union, while warning that it is impossible to fully protect energy infrastructure from attacks. In this context, European countries should build up strategic reserves of equipment and spare parts in advance to respond quickly to crisis situations. This was reported by the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine
The need for such an approach was stated by Roman Andarak, Deputy Minister of Energy of Ukraine for Digital Development and Digitalisation, who spoke via video link at an event in the European Parliament dedicated to strengthening the EU's energy independence
He reminded that since the beginning of the year, Ukraine has suffered a series of massive missile and drone strikes on critical energy infrastructure, which led to emergency blackouts in several regions amid winter frosts. The official thanked the European partners for their solidarity and practical assistance in eliminating the consequences of these attacks
According to Andarak, the key «new dimension» of energy security is the physical protection of energy facilities - an area in which Ukraine has gained unique experience during the years of full-scale war. In particular, we are talking about strengthening the protection of substations and other critical equipment, as well as the introduction of multi-level security systems that have allowed us to save a significant number of expensive transformers even during shelling
The Deputy Minister drew special attention to the problem of standardisation. He noted that Ukraine receives energy equipment from various European partners, which is often manufactured to different standards. In the event of large-scale damage, this could complicate rapid mutual assistance between EU countries
Andarak cited one of the Russian strikes as an example, which damaged seven high-voltage circuit breakers at once. None of the operators had such a large number of spare equipment in their reserves, which complicated the restoration work. That is why, he emphasised, the creation of European strategic reserves is critically important
The official also warned that the threat from Russia should not be underestimated, given the hybrid actions, including illegal flights of drones in the airspace of EU countries and acts of sabotage. In this context, the Ukrainian experience of protecting energy infrastructure can be useful for all EU member states
At the same time, Ukraine continues to work on eliminating the consequences of the latest shelling. In particular, after the night attack on 9 January in the Pechersk district of Kyiv, about 20% of buildings are still without heating, and problems are also reported in the Dniprovsky and Svyatoshinsky districts. In the most affected areas of the capital, the State Emergency Service is connecting high-capacity generators to stabilise the power supply
Energy security, infrastructure protection, strategic reserves, Ukraine, EU
