KYIV, Feb 2 – Ukraine needs to import electricity, since domestic generation, amid a significant drop in temperature in February, cannot provide consumers with a resource at the required level due to insufficient coal reserves in the warehouses at thermal power plants, which make up 44% of the minimum guaranteed reserves and 21% of last year, Head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Energy, Housing and Utilities Services Andriy Gerus said.

"In such conditions, we cannot depend on the fact that some companies did not deliver coal to their warehouses, and today 80% of coal-fired power plants belong to private companies. Therefore, electricity imports have begun in Ukraine, which accounts for 3-4% of our consumption," Gerus said in a video message posted on his Telegram channel and Facebook page on Tuesday.