08.12.2025
On December 10, the Energy Club forum “ENERGY OF FEMALE LEADERSHIP: Women Holding Ukraine’s Energy Front” will take place in Kyiv. This platform will unite women making strategic decisions in government, business, and key energy institutions.
One of the event’s key speakers will be Olga Babii, Advisor to the Head of the NSDC (National Security and Defense Council) and a member of the NEURC (National Energy and Utilities Regulatory Commission) from 2019 to 2024.
During the forum, she will discuss how the very logic of state decisions in the energy sector changes under wartime conditions, why the financial stability of companies has become a factor of national security, and why distributed generation is now an element of the energy system’s survival.
She will also outline why Ukraine needs a new, secure energy architecture and which decisions created the foundation for its resilience in 2022–2025.
In an interview with the Energy Club media department, Ms. Olga shared her unique experience working inside the system during the heaviest attacks on the energy sector, spoke about a decision-making style that “scares even men,” and explained why women demonstrate extraordinary rationality, flexibility, and the ability to take responsibility in wartime conditions.
Her answers highlight the processes that shaped the country’s energy resilience and show the role female leaders play in this.
– Ms. Olga, your professional path during the years of the full-scale invasion is illustrative: from a member of the NEURC, where you handled market regulation during the first massive attacks, to Advisor to the Head of the NSDC.
How has your personal perspective on energy changed? Where is the line when the issue of tariffs or market rules becomes a direct question of national security?
– My view and perspective haven’t changed at all, because the laws of security and the rules of economics operate in both peacetime and wartime conditions.
What has changed is the understanding of risks and threats that can have negative consequences for the country, the resilience of the front and rear, the economy, and people’s safety.
The question of tariffs has become even more rhetorical. It is a long topic that should now be viewed from a different angle.
Regulation is not just about tariffs; it is about rules and procedures that affect financial results and, consequently, tariffs.
The financial stability of energy companies, which can be achieved exclusively through economically justified tariffs, has become an element of security for me.
I think everyone understands this.
– You were inside the decision-making system during the hardest moments of 2022-2023, when the enemy first tried to “switch off” Ukraine.
Looking back, from the height of your current experience at the NSDC: which systemic, perhaps unpopular decision by the regulator or the government at that time do you consider key to the fact that the energy system stood firm then and continued to hold on during this winter of 2025?
– There are several such decisions:
Honest conversation with society about outage schedules and their causes.
Simplification of grid connection procedures and the launch of auctions for the construction of distributed generation facilities.
Recognition of distributed generation as an element of survival for the energy system.
Formation of equipment reserves for restoration during destruction.
– The second panel of our forum is dedicated to the architecture of the future. There is a lot of talk now about decentralization and distributed generation.
From the perspective of the National Security and Defense Council, is this simply an economically expedient trend or an alternative-free security requirement for Ukraine’s new energy system? Does the state already have a clear vision of this new, secure configuration?
– I am not ready to speak on behalf of the NSDC; I will speak for myself.
Currently, there is no such [unified] vision, but it should appear in the near future. This is a matter of joint coordinated work between the Ministry of Energy, Ukrenergo, and the regulator.
I think we will see such decisions in the near future.
– The forum is dedicated to female leadership. You have held and continue to hold extremely high government positions in a sphere traditionally considered “male,” and you do so under the most extreme conditions in the country’s history.
Have you ever felt that your style of decision-making or communication in crisis situations differs from the male style? And what does “holding the energy front” at the level of state strategy mean to you personally?
– My decision-making style scares even men. I never make unilateral decisions based solely on my own experience and practice.
First, I ask everyone; then I ask for the proposals to be described on paper; then I verify if what was written matches what was said; then I check the proposals for viability (how it will work, and what the result and its consequences will be), and only after that do I make a decision.
They say that whether you advise me or not—I still make the decision myself, and it is impossible to predict it.
And “holding the energy front” at the level of state strategy means to me: doing what you can, with what you have, where you are.
– Today, in the winter of 2025, the challenges facing the industry remain colossal.
Why, in your opinion, is it important right now to gather female leaders—from government representatives to business executives—on one platform? What is the main signal you would like to convey to the forum participants and international partners who will hear us?
– Women are a soft power; they are more flexible and very rational. They do not stop at one solution but have a multitude of them.
Women are capable of being tougher and more ruthless than men, and they can take responsibility for themselves, their children, their husband, and everything surrounding them.
Women need to be heard—they do not give bad advice. In Ukrainian tradition, there is a rule: as the mother said, so the father did.
We must remember our roots, our identity, and the fact that if someone comes to our land and harms it, they can be burned ruthlessly, like the Drevlians*.
There are many examples in our history, and they should not be neglected.
Форум “ЕНЕРГІЯ ЖІНОЧОГО ЛІДЕРСТВА: жінки, що тримають енергетичний фронт України”
