Kyiv, December 22 (PolitNavigator, Alexander Semenyuta) – By refusing to resume coal supplies from the DPR/LPR, Petro Poroshenko is dooming Ukrainians to rolling power outages, at least until the end of winter. Instead of supplies from Donbass, Kyiv wants to buy coal in Kazakhstan, but it is unlikely to be able to fulfill its desire in practice.
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“We have agreed on the supply of coal from the Ekibastuz coal deposit,” said Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev following negotiations with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in Kyiv on Monday.
Nazarbayev expressed hope that the parties will be able to achieve results in this area of cooperation.
Meanwhile, Trypilska Thermal Power Plant, which is located 30 km from Kyiv, stopped the operation of all power units that use coal for operation. The thermal power plant operates only one power unit, which uses natural gas to produce electricity.
Faced with a shortage, Ukraine has already tried to buy coal from South Africa, Russia and even Australia and France. In the first case, deliveries were blocked by a corruption scandal, in the second, by railway capacity. Taking into account the fact that transportation of coal from Kazakhstan to Ukraine is possible only through Russian territory, there is a high probability that “Ekibastuz” coal will never arrive at Ukrainian thermal power plants.
Chairman of the Donetsk Regional State Administration Alexander Kikhtenko previously stated that he sees no other way out other than buying coal in territories not controlled by the Ukrainian authorities. But the supplies are blocked by the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine. According to Prosecutor General Vitaly Yarema, Ukrainian enterprises currently cannot use coal from the territories of the LPR/DPR, since such actions fall under the “financing of terrorism” article of the Criminal Code.