Oleksandr Danyliuk: President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has assigned the participants of the meeting to prepare proposals on the draft NSDC decision on energy security

Today's meeting with the participation of the members of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine under the chairmanship of the President of Ukraine, where energy security issues were considered, allowed to hold discussion, taking into account the views of all its participants. This was stated by Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Oleksandr Danyliuk at a briefing for media representatives.

"Many participants were invited - representatives of energy regulators, state companies. There was a very heated debate on all the urgent issues that Ukraine now faces in the energy sector", - Mr. Danyliuk said adding that there are problems in the industry that cannot be concealed despite the hot election period. - But the NSDC is a platform that allows to seriously analyze existing issues and challenges and find solutions", - the NSDC Secretary underscored.

According to the NSDC Secretary, the meeting was held in a new format, since the problems considered today "have accumulated over the years with no solutions sought". "Therefore, the final decision was to give 10 days or two weeks, so that all participants of the meeting, in particular, the Cabinet of Ministers, offered solutions for topical issues and implemented them", - Mr. Danyliuk noticed.

In this context, the NSDC Secretary informed that the majority of the participants of the meeting agreed on the need to postpone the entry into force on July 1 of the law on the introduction of the electricity market. He added that there is uncertainty whether it

should be postponed for three months, nine months, or a year.

According to him, the Head of State is waiting for a single proposal from state bodies and subjects of the market, and approximately two weeks later, the NSDC will consider it at the meeting devoted to the situation in the energy sector. The NSDC Secretary noted that "the Cabinet of Ministers will develop the final stance" emphasizing the parliament's crucial role in passing the law on the postponement of the terms of the implementation of the electricity market, without which it is impossible to postpone the reform.

Among the important challenges, the NSDC Secretary also mentioned Russia's restriction on the supply of diesel fuel and oil to Ukraine, which will come into force from the beginning of June.

"There are problems that really constitute a huge risk for us - this is a problem of the loss of gas transit through the territory of Ukraine from January 1, 2020. There are problems related to Russia's restrictions to be introduced on June 2 on the supply of diesel fuel and oil products and ban on oil supplies, - Mr. Danyliuk said. - It will create possible challenges for Ukraine as a state, and we must be prepared for it".

The NSDC Secretary also noted that the first full meeting of the Council in the usual format will be devoted to the problems of the war in the East, and the next one - to problems in the energy sector.