This winter has proven that the existing “protection system” of Ukrainian energy has critical gaps, and the infrastructure itself, in its current form, is poorly suited to work in war conditions. Thus, simply “replacing the gasket” will not help, but you need to change the entire system and transform it so that it does not fall from every strong blow. At the same time, it is important to stop shifting responsibility for these changes to persons who are not globally responsible for this, writes the director of the analytical and research center "

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Thus, Energy Minister Denis Shmygal recently reported that President Vladimir Zelensky “has set the task for local authorities to prepare plans for protecting the energy infrastructure for the next heating season.”. However, the expert points out, a legal conflict arises here - the president can set tasks for the local executive branch, that is, the heads of the regional state administration/RBA, but city mayors are local government and they are not subordinate to the president.

Another important point is that “energy infrastructure protection plans” are not one competence and not one document. They cover military risks, for which military and military administrations are responsible. There are issues that relate to the sustainability of the city - reserves, heat supply, generators, networks, shelter of critical nodes, fuel reserves, repair logistics - and this is the area of \u200b\u200bresponsibility of the local authorities.

“That is, the mayor can and should do a lot - but calling it all with one word “protection” and shifting responsibility to one side is a convenient simplified picture, which then works as an alibi,” Sergienko points out..

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The third point is that the so-called “protection plans” of the city and region must be submitted before September 1, but there will be critically little time left for their implementation before the heating season.

“Why do we need to clearly dot the “I” here Because with any failures, the central government often begins to look for those responsible “on the ground,” the expert emphasizes and points to the story of the situation in Kyiv, where the president and the government loudly accuse the mayor’s office of inaction, declare efforts to resolve the situation, and the mayor directly speaks about critical damage and the impossibility of eliminating them in the short term.

Sergienko adds that, given the current situation, the state turned out to be unprepared for the threats that befell us this winter, and spending on “protection” in many cases did not produce the expected effect. And now, amid loud statements, he is feverishly trying to patch up the holes. But the question of preparing for next winter is now even more difficult.

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“What kind of “protection plans” can we talk about when some of the key facilities are already seriously damaged or taken out of normal operation Another thing is obvious: restored objects can be hit a second time, a third time and again. That is why it is logical to talk not about “defense plans” in the old configuration, but about a new energy strategy in war conditions. And separately - for the generation/transmission/distribution of electricity, and separately - for heat supply to cities,” the expert emphasizes.

So, a plan is a list of tasks until a certain date, but a strategy is the definition of goals and principles: where to move, what is a priority, what is acceptable and what is not. And here is the fundamental difference in vision.

Ukraine, according to him, needs to define two models:.

what should the electricity generation/transmission/distribution system be like to be most resilient in wartime?;

what should be the heat supply system for cities, especially large ones?.

\? Obviously, more than one official is “in the office”. The strategy must be developed by specialists - energy workers, engineers, economists, the security sector, and the state must approve it, provide resources, adopt a regulatory framework and implement. And not in the style of “give instructions before September 1,” but in the style of “taking responsibility,” Sergienko emphasized.