Ukraine to offer electricity exports to Germany to end dependence on Russian energy imports

Ukraine plans to support Germany in its attempt to ends its dependence on Russian energy imports by supplying Europe's largest economy with its own surplus electricity.

"Currently, Ukraine exports its electricity to Moldova, Romania, Slovakia and Poland. But we are quite ready to expand our exports to Germany," Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal told dpa.

"We have a sufficient amount of electricity in Ukraine thanks to our nuclear power plants," Shmyhal said, adding that he would be raising the issue during his visit to the German capital this weekend.

Shmyhal is due to arrive in Berlin on Saturday, and is scheduled to meet Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Sunday.

Parallel to the Russian invasion at the end of February, Ukraine, alongside neighbour Moldova, disconnected from the power grid integrating it with Russia. In mid-March, the country's electricity grid was synchronised with the European network.

Since then, the country has been exporting between 400 and 700 megawatts of electricity daily to the EU and Moldova.

Shmyhal now wants to increase the export quotas for the EU several times over. "That would be very good for both sides. The EU would get more energy and we would get the foreign currency we urgently need," the prime minister said.

Ukraine operates nuclear power plants with a total capacity of more than 14 gigawatts. However, six reactors at the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant in Enerhodar have been under Russian control since March.

The international community is very concerned that acts of war near Europe's largest nuclear power plant could lead to a nuclear accident.

Electricity consumption in Ukraine has fallen massively since the Russian invasion began, due to both the mass exodus of the population and the economic slump. This has freed up additional capacity for Ukrainian electricity exports.