"We have a plan B and a plan C. But our focus is plan A, the essence of which is to get everyone's support" for Ukraine's accession, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said.
"(T)he presence at the Victory Parade of a country that bombs cities, hospitals, and daycares, and which has caused the deaths and injuries of over a million people over three years, is a shame," Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said.
"According to the participants of the performances, their goal is to remind the civilized world of the barbaric actions of Moscow, which for many years and decades has systematically violated international law," a source in Ukraine’s military intelligence agency (HUR) told the Kyiv Independent.
"I have great hope that an agreement for a ceasefire in Ukraine will be reached this weekend," German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on May 9, shortly before traveling to Kyiv alongside the leaders of France, Poland, and the U.K.
U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk will arrive in Kyiv early on May 10.
The United States embassy in Kyiv on May 9 issued a warning that Russia could launch "a potentially significant" attack in the coming days, despite Putin's self-declared Victory Day "truce."
The sanctioned oil tankers have transported over $24 billion in cargo since 2024, according to Downing Street. The U.K. has now sanctioned more shadow fleet vessels than any other country.
Washington and its partners are considering additional sanctions if the parties do not observe a ceasefire, with political and technical negotiations between Europe and the U.S. intensifying since last week, Reuters' source said.
Ukraine's nuclear, hydroelectric and renewable energy sources are doing their best to make up for the dip in the hydrocarbon supply. (whatwolf/freepik)
Ukraine produced 5.2% more electricity in 2021 than in 2020, according to statistics published by the Energy Ministry on Jan. 11.
The increase was driven by a 38% increase in hydropower output, a 15% increase from renewables and a 13% increase from nuclear power plants.
However, electricity consumption increased by 5.7% from 2020. The gap between production and consumption increases meant that Ukraine’s exports of electricity to other countries declined by 26.5% in 2021.
Ukraine’s creaking energy infrastructure has been put under immense strain by this year's coal deficit. Some experts believe that poor planning and management led to shortages at the state-owned coal energy company Centrenergo. Meanwhile, coal giant DTEK, owned by Ukraine's richest man, oligarch Rinat Akhmetov, cut output and coal production earlier in the year, blaming low prices.
The situation was exacerbated by a blockade from Russia. On Nov. 1, Russia, which supplied 70% of Ukraine’s imported coal in 2020, stopped exporting thermal coal to Ukraine. Days later, it also began to block the passage of trains carrying coal from Kazakhstan to Ukraine.
As a result of the shortage, the share of electricity produced by coal-fired plants dropped from 36% in 2020 to 29% in 2021.
Even after the shortage, use of coal is expected to drop further as Ukraine seeks to meet EU carbon emissions targets. From 2026, the European Union plans to introduce a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, a form of carbon tax on imports that will punish goods from countries with "dirty" energy sources.
Ukraine’s four nuclear power plants, whose reactors have an average age of 33 years, have picked up most of the slack. Nuclear energy generated over 55% of Ukraine’s electricity in 2021, compared to less than 52% in 2020.
In April 2021, state-owned nuclear power company Energoatom said that it believed the existing reactors, most of which are Soviet-built, can be kept running until they are 60 years old.
According to the Energy Strategy for Ukraine for 2035, a set of targets approved by the government of former Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman in 2017, the share of coal power in Ukraine’s electricity mix is projected to drop more than fivefold over the next 14 years, while the nuclear share is expected to grow by 10%.
The plan also projected a near-tripling of renewable energy output between 2020 and 2035. Production by green energy sources increased in 2021 despite a running two-year battle between producers and the government over delayed or missing payments, which has deterred new foreign investment into the sector.
The state was able to repay most of its green energy debts for 2020 after auctioning $825 million in Eurobonds in October 2021. However, it suffered another renewables PR disaster when it allegedly tried to stop debt repayments from going through to the accounts of DTEK, amid a feud between President Volodymyr Zelensky and Akhmetov.
Max Hunder is a business reporter at the Kyiv Independent. He previously worked as a business reporter at the Kyiv Post focusing on infrastructure and energy. He is a graduate of Eton College and University College London, and has reported for international publications from London, Kyiv and Yerevan.
