09.12.2025
At the Energy Club forum “Energy of Freedom: Resilience and New Opportunities for the Energy Storage Systems Market in Ukraine”, Oleksii Hnatenko — Partner, Dispute Resolution Practice, Juscutum presented an overview where three dimensions converged: regulatory reality, wartime challenges, and technological opportunities that are already shaping the energy of the future.
His speech combined legal analytics, an assessment of state policy, and a vision of innovation: from artificial intelligence to the hydrogen economy.
Juscutum: Why Lawyers Are So Deep in Energy
Oleksii began with an explanation that often remains “behind the scenes”: why a team that traditionally works with technological and innovative businesses is so thoroughly immersed specifically in energy.
The answer is simple yet revealing. A significant part of Juscutum’s work involves legal disputes, particularly in the energy sector, where the price of a mistake or delay is always high.
The company has been supporting technological projects and protecting businesses in regulatorily complex spheres for years — so energy became a natural extension of this expertise.
After the start of the full-scale invasion, this focus only intensified: lawyers became involved in cases regarding compensation for damages for destroyed critical infrastructure — work that requires both legal precision and an understanding of industry specifics.
“If you have a conflict with a regulator or counterparties — welcome to Juscutum,” summarized Oleksii Hnatenko.
Main Context: War, Infrastructure Destruction, and the Need for Transparent Rules
The biggest challenge for the energy sector in all the years of independence has been the war.
The enemy is purposefully destroying critical infrastructure, and modern Europe has not yet encountered such a scale of destruction.
According to Oleksii Hnatenko:
The state must establish clear, predictable rules;
Business must work and attract investments, including international ones.
Of special importance is the Ukraine Facility — a “money in exchange for reforms” program.
For foreign partners, the main thing is the predictability of the regulatory framework. And this is precisely what currently decides whether investments enter Ukraine.
Therefore, every reform, from energy to medical procurement, must be built on transparent and stable rules.
Regulatory Framework: Lawyers Analyze What Shapes the Market
The Juscutum team constantly monitors and analyzes laws, government resolutions, and NEURC bylaws — everything capable of changing the rules of the energy sector’s operation.
“We always argue about what is written in the law. Therefore, we pay increased attention to every legal detail, because it is in the details that the protection of our clients’ interests lies,” emphasized Oleksii.
Recommendations for Energy Business: Be Competitive and Investment-Attractive
Oleksii outlined a simple but effective set of actions that allow businesses to sustain themselves during turbulent times:
Carefully analyze regulatory changes;
Remain maximally adaptive;
Take technological trends into account;
Work with the involvement of expert communities and specialized associations.
Artificial Intelligence as the Key to the Energy of the Future
One of the most striking parts of the speech concerned AI. Oleksii Hnatenko drew parallels between IT, the defense sphere, and energy, emphasizing: artificial intelligence is not a trend, but the foundation of competitiveness.
Digitalization has played its role, and moving forward, the industry is driven not by it, but by artificial intelligence.
He cited an example of cooperation with a company that manufactures large-scale assembly batteries and implements an AI battery management system with big data analysis.
“The future does not work without artificial intelligence. Competitiveness begins where AI becomes part of your system, not an option,” the lawyer stressed.
The State Acts Reactively. The Community Needs to Act Proactively
Oleksii highlighted a gap felt by any business: the state often reacts to challenges only after a crisis, whereas the market needs preventive actions.
It is business communities, particularly the Energy Club, that must initiate solutions, formulate proposals, create their own rules, and influence the market through associations.
Hydrogen Reform: More Complex Than It Seems
A separate block of the speech was dedicated to Juscutum’s participation in the hydrogen reform, coordinated by the UN Global Compact in Ukraine.
Key points of the speech:
Hydrogen economy chains (production, supply, storage, derivative products) are much more complex than they appear from the outside;
The working group has already united state enterprises (GTS, “Guaranteed Buyer”), business, and experts;
The national hydrogen strategy is already two years overdue;
They plan to approve it by the end of 2025;
The previous version of the strategy (until 2035) no longer corresponds to the realities of war.
Juscutum promotes a structured, strategic approach in the reform. “We do not want ambitions to exist in isolation from the country’s energy strategy”.
“Hydrogen, ammonia, methanol — these are new energy resources that require deep rethinking,” noted Oleksii and invited market participants to join the work.
At the Energy Club forum, Oleksii Hnatenko presented a comprehensive view on the formation of energy policy in wartime conditions: from regulatory changes and the Ukraine Facility program — to AI solutions and the hydrogen economy.
The main message sounds simple and honest: the energy of the future belongs to those who act proactively, technologically, and are included in reforms — and not to those who wait for the state to solve all problems on its own.
