Kiev denies reports that Ukraine resorted to emergency energy purchases from Russia
Ukrainian authorities denied the reports that the government made emergency purchases of energy from the Russian Federation at high tariff rates. Kiev officials declared that Ukraine does not lack for power sources.
The Minister of Energy and Coal Industry of Ukraine, Igor Nasalik, refuted the claims, explaining that Ukraine’s energy system doesn’t lack the capacity to provide power so it has no need of energy supplied from the Russian Federation.
“Currently, we produce no less than two thousand megawatts as forecasted in early summer. More precisely, we’re currently producing 2.2 MW of power and we don’t need annual assistance from the Russian Federation,” Nasalik wrote on his Facebook page on June 27th. Nasalik denied the information that Kiev will receive 600 KW of energy from Russia as technical assistance.
Earlier, Russian Kommersant newspaper reported that Kiev has to purchase energy from Russia at a heightened tariff—thirty percent more expensive that market rates. Kommersant explained that Ukraine was forced to purchase energy from Russia because of the sharp increase of consumption connected with the summer heat while the nuclear power plant is under repair and the also after the cessation of coal supplies from the Donbas.
On the 24th of June, Russian Interfax news agency reported that Kiev requested the maximum possible amount of energy from Russia as technical assistance—a total of 600 kilowatts of power.