Groysman: Ukraine to give up coal imports

"Our task is not to import a single kilogram or a tonne of coal into the country. We must be an export-oriented country, but this takes time," he said.

The prime minister added that to achieve this goal, the government plans to invest money in modernizing state coal mines or put them up for privatization.

As UNIAN reported, Ukraine started facing an acute shortage of coal since the summer of 2014 as a result of hostilities in the east of the country. It completely lost control over some areas in Donbas with coal mines. After that, the country began to import coal.

Read alsoThird batch of U.S. coal arrives in UkraineIn 2016, Ukraine reduced spending on coal imports by 10% from 2015, to $1.467 billion.

This year, the two largest power generation companies that consume thermal coal have contracted anthracite from South Africa (DTEK) and the United States (Centrenergo).

Read alsoUkraine doubles coal imports, over half comes from Russia Over the 9 months of 2017, Ukraine spent on thermal coal imports a total of $1.889 billion.