Ukraine intends to increase natural gas imports by about 30% after the Russian military carried out massive strikes on key gas facilities in the country, Energy Minister Svetlana Grinchuk said at a news conference on Tuesday. She described the damage as "significant" and warned that the winter would be difficult if the recovery did not progress quickly, "Reuters" quoted her as saying.
"We plan to increase imports by about 30% if we manage to expand our import capacity. "The goal is to ensure supplies during the coldest months, with the priority being the October-December period," Grinchuk said after a meeting with ambassadors of Western countries.
The minister stressed that the volume of necessary imports will depend on the speed of recovery of production and on how intense Russian attacks on the gas and electricity grids will be. "The faster we restore production, the less we will have to import", she added, noting that importing liquefied natural gas (LNG) is also being considered as an option to make up for the shortage.
Ukraine started the heating season with about 13.2 billion cubic meters of gas in its underground storage facilities and initially planned to import another 4.6 billion cubic meters in the winter of 2025/26. According to energy analysts and former government officials, reserves are currently close to 13 billion cubic meters, but Moscow's new strikes call into question whether these quantities will be sufficient.
Russian air strikes on Ukraine's energy sector have sharply increased in recent weeks. On Friday alone, the main gas fields in the central part of the country were attacked, and several northern regions are already facing serious restrictions on energy supplies.
Grinchuk said the government had prepared response plans for various scenarios, including the "worst" one that could require temporary restrictions on gas supplies to both industry and the population.
"We are preparing for various scenarios, including the worst, because this is the first winter of the war in which Russia is systematically attacking not only power plants but also gas infrastructure," the minister said.
Moscow has been attacking Ukraine's energy facilities since the start of a full-scale invasion in 2022, but Kiev says the latest strikes are the largest yet against the gas network, raising the risk of shortages and further pressure on the country's energy system.