In the next three or five years, Ukraine will need to import thermal coal, DTEK CEO Maksym Timchenko has said.

"What we see: Ukraine, starting from this year, becomes a net importer of coal for the next at least three or five years in the energy sector," he said at a press conference in Kyiv on Tuesday.

At the same time, Timchenko noted the importance of developing a coal import program. "And this coal should not be purchased at the peak and before winter, but a whole program for the import of coal should be drawn up in advance and it is necessary to understand where to buy this coal," he said, noting that it is necessary to purchase, "probably, from the wrong countries, which by the decision of one or two people in one day can stop deliveries."

At the same time, according to him, the company welcomes the efforts of the authorities to settle accounts with renewable energy generation, which will become a powerful signal for the renewal of green energy in Ukraine, and at the same time the replacement of thermal generation with green technologies.

"Before that, we need to take a sober view of how much coal we need during the construction of green generation," the CEO of DTEK said.