Due to the deficit of anthracite coal, which arose as a result of the blockade of the temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, Ukraine should import it from various countries, except for the aggressor state Russia, Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman told his annual press conference.
"As for diversification, we definitely need to buy the missing volumes of coal from various countries, and I want to emphasize that I'm a supporter of purchasing it from the United States, Australia, i.e. from abroad, but not from the aggressor state," he said.
Groysman also recalled that Ukraine had not been importing gas from Russia for 501 days already and continued its work on the upgrading thermal power plants to operate on Ukraine-produced gas coal brands.
"We are also stepping up hydropower and nuclear power engineering," Groysman said.
Read alsoPoroshenko wants Donbas coal to be seized if imported from RussiaUNIAN memo. Fighting in the eastern regions of Ukraine has caused a significant shortage of coal, primarily that of thermal anthracite produced in militant-controlled areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Thus, the deficit of coal has affected operations of power plants, forced to reduce their capacities. In order to provide smooth operation of power grids, anthracite was imported from South Africa. However, the issue of coal shipments to thermal power plants became critical after the launch of a blockade of trade with the occupied areas in late January 2017.
Stocks of anthracite coal at Ukrainian thermal power plants (TPP) shrank by 14% from March 29 to April 5, to 424,000 tonnes, according to the Ukrainian Energy and Coal Industry Ministry's press service.