REMARKS
by Ambassador of Ukraine to Romania
H.E. Ihor PROKOPCHUK
at the Energy Week Black Sea 2026
(Bucharest, 4 February 2026)
Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,
It is an honour and privilege for me to have the floor at the opening of the 2026 Energy Week Black Sea and to join this distinguished community of policymakers, regulators, investors, engineers, and energy companies getting together in shaping the energy future of our region.
At the outset let me thank the organizers and all those who made this conference possible and express my sincere gratitude to Romania for its unwavering support and practical solidarity with Ukraine throughout now nearly four years of Russia’s full-scale armed aggression against my country.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
There are a few key points I would like to present to you in my intervention. In view of the current circumstances, they relate to the ongoing war and energy sector.
First and foremost, I will speak today about the present energy crisis in Ukraine. It is a near-humanitarian catastrophe provoked by Russia’s deliberate massive attacks.
This winter Russia has intensified its missile and drone strike campaign against Ukraine's energy system, targeting not only electricity generation but also striking distribution networks and heating infrastructure that keep civilians alive in sub-zero temperatures. Since October 2025, the Russian Federation has damaged 8.5 GW of Ukraine’s power generation capacity.
Russia is exploiting the weather – very harsh winter this year – trying to hit and disable as many of Ukraine`s energy facilities as possible. It is waging a war against civilians –turning winter into a weapon. Russia employs genocidal practices of artificially creating conditions that do not sustain life.
The night before last, from Monday to Tuesday, Russia launched a record number of ballistic missiles at major Ukrainian cities with populations over 1 mln people - Kyiv, Dnipro, Kharkiv and others. A specific target were heating facilities. Over 70 missiles and 450 attack drones. In Kyiv alone, again over 1100 high-story apartment block buildings were left without heating. In temperatures falling below -20 C.
In January 2026, Russia targeted Ukraine with over 6000 attack drones, over 5500 gliding bombs and 158 missiles.
The challenges to the energy system are extreme. The situation remains the most difficult in Kyiv and Kyiv region, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipro, Chernihiv, Sumy and Odesa regions. Due to the aftermath of massive attacks, a state of emergency is currently in effect in the energy sector.
Tens of thousands of people are without heating, electricity and water in temperatures of -20 that last for weeks.
Russia’s attacks on energy system and resulting blackouts also significantly increase risks to nuclear safety and security. At the emergency meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors convened last week in Vienna the Director-General of the organisation emphasised the critical importance of uninterrupted external supply of electricity to the nuclear power plants whereas attacks on substations and other elements of energy infrastructure create direct nuclear risks. Several Ukrainian electrical substations critical to nuclear safety were damaged during a large-scale Russian missile and drone attack on 20 January. Nuclear security risks are constantly exacerbated by ongoing illegal occupation of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, which has experienced degradation of equipment, lack of reliable water supply, stable external power supply, qualified personnel.
Recent incidents have shown that major disruptions in Ukraine’s power system, like last Saturday, can directly affect neighboring countries. The outage experienced in the Republic of Moldova showed how interconnected our systems are as well as their vulnerability.
Any attack on Ukraine's energy infrastructure is, in essence, a stress test for the entire region.
Ukraine’s immediate priorities: humanitarian energy support and air defense
I appeal to all those present — governments, companies, municipalities, industry associations, and humanitarian organizations — to expand practical assistance to Ukraine.
We urgently need:
Due to the loss of a significant share of domestic gas production, Ukraine will need to purchase an additional 4.4 bcm of imported gas to ensure uninterrupted supply during the 2025 - 2026 heating season.
A fundamental and critical priority: air defense.
Without effective air defense systems, any repair effort becomes temporary. We need intercepting missiles and drones in sufficient quantities. Air defense is not only a military need, but also the cornerstone of sustainable energy security.
Building resilience: from communities to regional integration
It is necessary to learn lessons from Russia’s ongoing full-scale aggression: resilience must be developed as a distributed system, anchored at the community level and integrated at the national and cross-border levels.
Ukraine is interested to deepen energy cooperation in the Ukraine – Romania – Republic of Moldova triangle. This includes emergency response mechanisms, cross-border balancing, increasing the reliability of interconnections, and coordinated protection of critical infrastructure. We have on the agenda such projects as reconstruction and expansion of the high-voltage power transmission line “Pivdennoukrainska Nuclear Power Plant–Orlivka–Isaccea”, including its interconnection in Moldova «Vulcănești–Artsyz».
Ukraine is interested in the speedy modernisation of cross-border electricity interconnections, notably the Siret–Porubne and the Suceava–Chernivtsi lines, to strengthen regional grid resilience and emergency support.
Regional infrastructure initiatives include the Vertical Gas Corridor, as it enables the flow of natural gas from South to North through Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine, strengthening diversification and security of supply.
This corridor provides for a strategic shift that enhances resilience across the Black Sea region and creates new opportunities for Ukraine’s integration into the European energy market.
As we grapple with the current severe challenges, we aim for energy recovery and modernization through investments and new technologies.
Ukraine's energy recovery will be future-oriented. Reconstruction must go hand in hand with modernization and innovation.
Among the key priorities are:
Security as a precondition for Black Sea energy projects
On a final note let me stress that without a credible deterrence to Russsia, which is a principal long-term security threat to Europe, any large-scale energy projects in the Black Sea region face serious risks.
Such projects may become prohibitively expensive due to war risk insurance and security costs. Or, they may become direct targets of coercion and blackmail by Russia.
Against such backdrop investing in Ukraine's defense and resilience is a strategic investment in the viability of the entire energy future of the Black Sea.
Thank you for your attention.