Causes of the emergency in the energy sector of Ukraine

Due to problems with the supply of coal from eastern Ukraine, the Ukrainian government has declared a state of emergency for the energy sector. The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine called on citizens to save energy in everyday life and at work. If this is not enough, then the government will be forced to alternately interrupt power supply in different regions of the country.

The reason for the state of emergency is the blockade by Ukrainian ultranationalists for two weeks of the railroad from eastern Ukraine needed to transport coal. The protest is directed against the fact that the Ukrainian energy sector still uses coal from uncontrolled areas in the east of the country. Nevertheless, these enterprises operating there regularly pay taxes to the budget of Ukraine.

Coal shipments from eastern Ukraine have continued despite hostilities in recent years, as power plants throughout Ukraine depend on this coal. But why is it now that a small group of people has been allowed to cause a collapse in the power supply? The government only two weeks later publicly condemned the blockade and did nothing but declare the inevitability of an emergency.

Of course, after the rolling blackout of electricity, the next increase in tariffs will no longer be perceived as terrifying and even justified. In addition, if Donetsk coal is replaced, new sources of raw materials should appear, which are in the plane of the financial interests of future suppliers.