Ukraine’s gas storage hits record low, raising winter supply concerns — expert

Oleksandr Kharchenko, Director of the Energy Research Center, reported the information.

"At the moment, we are in a situation where our own generation is sufficient. The question is what comes next. Strategically, there is one significant challenge — the amount of gas. It's no secret that last year, a substantial portion of gas was burned to generate electricity," he said.

According to him, Ukraine needs to import around 4 to 4.5 billion cubic meters of gas, while "we currently have historically the lowest reserves in gas storage facilities."

"To be frank, this is about 40% of what we aim to accumulate overall — so this has a very significant impact," Kharchenko added.

The director also emphasized that Kyiv currently does not have the resources to purchase this volume of gas.

"And we don’t have the money for it, and so far, it’s unclear where the money would come from. The President is already talking about this, the issue is being discussed at the highest levels — and it's a good thing that it is being discussed. But so far, these discussions have not brought us any closer to solving the problem. Because I still don’t see any actions from the government or Naftogaz aimed at achieving real results," he explained.

• Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on international partners to make more active use of Ukrainian gas storage facilities in the face of Russian attacks.