Kyiv: Belarussian coal exported to Ukraine was not from Donbas mines
Minister of Energy and the Coal Industry of Ukraine Ihor Nasalyk told journalists on Tuesday that he is convinced that the anthracite coal that Ukraine imported from Belarus in 2018 was not extracted from the mines located in the territories Donetsk and Luhansk regions which are not under Kyiv’s control.
On February 21, Belstat news agency reported that the export of hard coal from Belarus to Ukraine grew by 980 times in 2018 while anthracite grew 340 times. Belarus does not have its own deposits of hard coal and anthracite. Nasalyk believes that it was Russian coal that was exported from Belarus to Ukraine.
"This could have been re-exported through Russia, but I can say with absolute certainty that the coal was not exported from the territories of uncontrolled Luhansk and Donetsk regions. At one time we had a closed meeting with the Ministry and energy generating companies. It was stated that if someone purchased such coal it would be easy to check which mine it was extracted from. Not only would the Ministry be boycotted but all energy companies would too," he said.
Ukraine lost 115 of 150 coal mines in the Donbas because of the Russian aggression in the Donbas, causing coal shortages that had to be covered by imported supplies.