"Dinosaurs" of Soviet Energy, the Power of the Market, and Europe's Unreadiness: Former Ukrenergo CEO Presents a New Doctrine for Energy Security

22.08.2025

What for European energy leaders has been a theoretical model in stress tests has become a harsh reality for Ukraine. The massive military campaign to destroy its energy infrastructure has turned the Ukrainian power system into a unique testing ground where old dogmas have been debunked and new principles of survival have been born.

During the exclusive online meeting “Ukraine’s Energy Grid Under Fire: Lessons in Resilience & Balancing for Europe,” organized by the Energy Club, Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, who led NPC Ukrenergo from 2020-2024, shared insights that should form the basis for rethinking energy security strategies across the continent. This meeting served as a preview for the landmark international forum, “Balancing Europe’s Energy System: Challenges, Solutions, and Prospects,” which will take place on October 9th in Vienna.

Synchronization on the Brink of War: How It All Began

Volodymyr Kudrytskyi began by recounting a truly historic moment: on the night of February 24, 2022, just three hours before the full-scale invasion, Ukrainian dispatchers completed the planned disconnection from the Russian and Belarusian power grids. A three-day test in isolated mode was meant to be the final exam before synchronizing with the European network ENTSO-E in 2023. The invasion, however, turned the test into a permanent survival mode.

“We found ourselves in a rather vulnerable position,” Kudrytskyi recalled, “but we immediately decided that we would not return to the Russian system, and we had to speed up the process of interconnection with Europe. Instead of a year, we did it in three weeks”.

On March 16, 2022, Ukraine became part of the European energy family, a move that Kudrytskyi described as equivalent to joining the EU in the energy world. This step saved the system from collapse, allowing it to receive emergency assistance and import electricity at critical moments.

Key Lesson #1: Decentralization as the Foundation of Survival

The key strategic conclusion Ukraine has drawn from this war is the categorical rejection of gigantic, centralized power plants. Kudrytskyi called them “dinosaurs of the Soviet era,” which are easy and obvious targets for any type of attack—from missiles to cyber threats.

“It is extremely dangerous to build huge power plants that cover a significant percentage of the country’s consumption. Instead of one large 3,000 MW station, you can have three hundred 10 MW facilities, well-distributed across the territory. It is almost impossible to destroy such a system,” he explained.

Decentralization has become Ukraine’s new energy security doctrine. This principle, borrowed from military strategy, means that assets should not be concentrated in one place. The future of energy, according to Kudrytskyi, lies in hundreds and thousands of small, flexible, and efficient generation facilities that cannot be destroyed in a single strike.

Key Lesson #2: Why the Market Must Work, Especially in a Crisis

One of Kudrytskyi’s strongest points was directed against the idea of “manual control” of the economy during wartime. He is convinced that an efficient, liberalized market is needed even more in a crisis than in peacetime, as it stimulates investment in the most necessary technologies.

He cited the winter of 2022 as an example:

“Half the country was suffering from power cuts. But do you know that due to artificial price caps on the Ukrainian market, we imported zero from Europe? Literally zero. As a result, we had to spend 10-20 times more on diesel generators instead of buying energy from Europe,” Kudrytskyi said.

He drew a parallel with the fuel crisis in the summer of 2022: as soon as the state abolished price regulation, businesses saturated the market with fuel in a matter of weeks, and the deficit was forgotten. The conclusion is clear: “The less regulation and the more synchronization with European rules, the more resilient and efficient the market is”.

A Wake-Up Call for Europe: Vulnerability and Unpreparedness

Ukraine’s experience has revealed critical vulnerabilities in the European energy system. According to Kudrytskyi, Europe is not ready for similar challenges.

• Physical Insecurity: In the pursuit of economic efficiency, many European substations are unmanned and lack even basic fences or security systems, making them easy targets for sabotage.
• Lack of Reserves: Europe lacks a sufficient stockpile of critical equipment (like autotransformers) and trained personnel for rapid restoration of facilities after attacks. “It would take years for the equipment to be manufactured,” he warned.
• Dependence on Asia: Kudrytskyi highlighted the Western world’s deep dependence on Chinese, Indian, and other Asian suppliers for heavy electrical equipment. Even the United States could not find a single spare autotransformer for Ukraine, as the lead time for their production for American companies is 3-4 years.

These and many other lessons, written “in the smoke of damaged substations,” will be the focus of the Energy Club’s international forum on October 9th in Vienna. It will be a unique opportunity for European leaders to translate Ukraine’s practical experience into European solutions and begin building a truly resilient continental energy system.