On the verge of a gas collapse: is Ukraine threatened by a blue fuel deficit this winter.

According to the BBC, Ukrainian leaders have been warned that there is a serious threat of gas shortages in the country for the upcoming heating season.President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that the government currently only has half of the necessary funds for gas supply this winter.'Another half – a billion euros – will need to be found,' he noted in the summer.Ukraine finished the heating season with record low gas reserves – less than 6 billion cubic meters, which is a third less than a year ago, and this is already bordering on a critical level.The reasons for the crisis lie in Russian strikes on infrastructure and strategic miscalculations that have led to an insufficient amount of gas in the country.By February 2025, the situation reached a critical level, and Naftogaz called it an 'energy domino effect that could lead to a systemic gas blackout at any moment.' To complete the heating season, the company urgently imported 800 million cubic meters of gas at high winter prices, bypassing gas storage facilities.Experts and Naftogaz estimated that for a normal winter, Ukraine needs to import around 4.5 billion cubic meters of gas at a cost of 1.7–2.5 billion dollars. The then head of Naftogaz, Roman Chumak, warned in April: 'Next winter, we need to do more than the impossible.' With the start of the next heating season, Ukraine will need to address serious gas supply issues due to lack of sufficient reserves and high import costs.