Ukraine exports electricity for first time since last year
on Google
Editor's note: this story was updated to include comments from an energy expert.
Ukraine exported electricity for the first time since last year, according to the country's state grid operator, in a remarkable turnaround as the country emerges from the catastrophic energy crisis caused over the winter by Russian air strikes.
Ukrenergo told the Kyiv Independent that Ukraine resumed electricity exports on March 5 for the first time since November 2025.
Russia launched a sustained bombing campaign in an attempt to erase Ukraine's energy infrastructure during what was the coldest winter of the full-scale invasion so far, launching hundreds of missiles and thousands of drones into the country since October.
The attacks resulted in widespread outages to civilian electricity and heating, causing a humanitarian crisis in the center and east of Ukraine.
Analyst group ExPro Consulting earlier reported on Thursday that the country exported 12 megawatt hours to Moldova during the night — a tiny but symbolic milestone. However, experts warn that Ukraine's energy system is still fragile.
"It means the crisis is in a less acute phase this week, nothing more. This is a temporary improvement in the balance, not a structural end to the crisis," Vladyslav Mikhnych, director of the Kyiv Energy and Climate Lab, told the Kyiv Independent.
Ukraine, which still faces scheduled blackouts, regularly exported much higher levels of power to neighbouring countries as late as last fall, and has the capacity to export 550 megawatts per hour to the EU.
The bombing campaign caused Ukraine — historically an energy exporter — to import record amounts of electricity from neighbouring countries in January 2025.
Ukraine's Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal said on March 5 that Russian attacks from mid-October damaged 9 gigawatts of generation capacity. So far, Ukraine has restored 3.5GW, he added.
According to ExPro, high production at nuclear power plants and renewable energy generation were key factors behind today's export.
