Today, all energy workers of Ukraine operate as one team, and with each attack they gain more experience and understanding of how to maintain the country's power system. Therefore, despite all attempts, Russia will not succeed in plunging Ukraine into complete darkness. DTEK CEO Maxim Timchenko said this at a round table on energy issues as part of the international donor conference in support of Ukraine, which took place in Paris on December 13.
“We will win this energy war because after each attack we gain experience and with it the understanding of how to maintain the power system. Our message to the russians is simple: you can do whatever you want, but you will never achieve your goal of plunging Ukraine into darkness," said M. Timchenko.
According to him, today all energy companies of Ukraine, regardless of whether they are private or state-owned, work as one team, exchanging equipment and sending repair crews to help each other.
"Ukrainian energy workers are brave and creative. They are brave because they go to work every day knowing that their enterprise can be attacked by missiles. And they are creative, because they know how to restore damaged equipment," said DTEK Chief Executive Officer.
He recalled that on November 23, Ukraine’s power system was subjected to a massive missile attack and gained the experience that no European country had in its history. "I could never have imagined the situation that 5 out of 6 of our TPPs would stop. But the next day we managed to start them up and step by step returned all the generating power back into the system," said M. Timchenko.
At the same time, he noted that Ukraine is in critical need of help from international partners in the form of transformers, equipment, and spare parts for repairing damaged energy facilities.
“Our energy workers are working 24/7 in areas where hostilities are ongoing to restore the energy supply. We are doing everything to ensure that people have light and warmth, especially throughout this heating season," emphasized CEO of DTEK.
In his opinion, the world should perceive Ukraine not only as a country of brave people, but also as a country with large energy resources that can supply Europe with clean electricity.
"We constantly tell our partners: help us today and we will help you tomorrow. Ukraine will be able to strengthen Europe's energy security. We have enough energy capacity not only to provide electricity to our own citizens, but also to export electricity to Europe. This will contribute to Europe’s energy independence from russia and lower electricity prices on European energy markets," concluded M. Timchenko.
On December 13, an international donor conference was held in Paris with the participation of more than 45 countries and 20 international organizations. It aims at supporting Ukraine against the background of constant russian attacks on critical infrastructure. The goal of the conference is to introduce a system of coordination of international aid to the power sector of Ukraine, just as Western countries coordinate their military support.
