National Nuclear Generating Company Energoatom has been tasked with reaching $500 million in profit over 2021 and doubling it in the next two years, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said at a press conference following two years of presidency on Thursday.

"It has been three or four months since Energoatom has made a profit, which is quite high. They have been tasked with getting at least $500 million this year. Next year or in another year, they should make a profit of $1 billion. You will see that will be," the president said.

According to him, the corporate policy of Energoatom previously largely depended on the previous policy of the Energy Ministry.

"You know that the Energy Ministry, for example, was guided by the fact that at one time or another, cheap generation, and these are Energoatom units, exactly at the time when the heating season was going on," Zelensky said.

According to him, the Energy Ministry pursued such a policy not in order to achieve an optimal cost balance in the generation of electricity between different types of generation, but in order to maximize heat generation, the electricity of which is much more expensive than nuclear power.

The head of state said that, at such a time, there was serious pressure on Energoatom, which led to delays in paying salaries to nuclear scientists and unprofitable work of the nuclear operating organization.