Ukraine will be able to refuse importing energy from the east only if it is disconnected from the energy systems of Russia and Belarus and synchronized with the EU energy system.
"Strategically, we definitely need to get away from this. But as long as the energy systems of Ukraine, Russia and Belarus have historically worked together, apparently, today we cannot refuse such facts. At least until we disconnect from the power systems of Russia and Belarus and, accordingly, join the European power grid," said Acting Minister of Energy of Ukraine Yuriy Boyko on the air of "UA: Ukrainian Radio".
But this does not in any way change the strategic goal—joining the European energy grid and working according to the synchronous rules of the markets of Ukraine and the European Union.
At the same time, the parallel work with the power systems of the Russian Federation and Belarus involves not only export-import operations, but also emergency assistance between states.
"This is, in fact, the physical logic of the parallel work of power systems, when one saves the other, if the situation requires it," Boyko explained.
Note that now there is not enough working capacity to generate electricity in the required volumes in Ukraine. Many power units of thermal and nuclear power plants are under planned or emergency repairs. This led to the import of energy both from Belarus and the Russian Federation to the IPS (Integrated Power System) of Ukraine, and from Hungary, Slovakia, and Romania to the energy system of the "Burshtyn Energy Island" in the west of the country.
Synchronization with the EU power grid is scheduled for 2023.
