Ukrainian mines are suspending coal production due to damage to energy blocks, said Ukrainian parliamentarian and member of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Energy and Housing and Communal Services Oleksiy Kucherenko.
"Public and private companies that own coal and mine it — these are DTEK and companies that are subordinate to the Ministry of Energy — they are suspending coal production today because there is simply nowhere to put it. The (energy) blocks have been destroyed, and our coal is not exported due to environmental and economic problems. Export is closed to us," Kucherenko said on the Kyiv24 TV channel.
He noted that there is enough coal in warehouses, even with a reserve, to fully meet the needs of Ukraine. In his opinion, this is also a "big problem", since coal cannot lie for a long time. Therefore, miners and enterprises suffer from downtime, the parliamentarian explained.
Kucherenko suggested that coal in such volumes as before will not be needed this winter, gas will become the main resource for the passage of the heating season.