By Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Editor (Canada-Ukraine), Times Asian
Andrew Pryma is a Ukrainian entrepreneur, investor, and founder of Ukraine Business News (UBN), focused on foreign investment, reconstruction, and market intelligence. With experience in investment banking, real estate, and industrial development, he promotes Ukraine’s economic resilience amid war. As CEO of Ukrtrade Capital, Pryma leads infrastructure, manufacturing, energy, and development initiatives, helping connect international investors with practical opportunities in Ukraine’s rebuilding economy, especially in energy, construction materials, industrial parks, and long-term private-sector recovery nationwide.
In this interview, Scott Douglas Jacobsen and Andrew Pryma discuss Ukraine’s damaged energy infrastructure and the country’s reconstruction priorities. Pryma emphasizes renewables, battery storage, transmission upgrades, and nuclear power, including Westinghouse AP1000 plans at Khmelnytskyi. He also explains how UBN informs global investors, tracks sectors such as critical minerals and energy, produces economic reports, and helps foreign companies enter Ukraine’s market through practical connections during wartime conditions and anticipated postwar reconstruction and growth across sectors.
Scott Douglas Jacobsen: Reconstruction, as we both know, has been a significant issue here since the first bomb landed. As we have seen over the years and months, particularly during the last winter season, Russia has repeatedly targeted Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. For Ukraine’s future energy infrastructure, what would you envision in an ideal scenario?
Andrew Pryma: A large share of Ukraine’s electricity generation has been damaged, destroyed, or occupied. By May 2024, around 70% of Ukraine’s thermal generation capacity was either damaged or occupied, and the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, which had supplied roughly one-quarter of Ukraine’s electricity before the full-scale invasion, remained under Russian control.
The ideal scenario would be to build as many renewable energy projects as possible, including wind, solar, and other green projects. Right now, Ukraine also has a major need for battery energy storage systems to help balance the grid. At the same time, if Ukraine adds several gigawatts of new generation capacity, it will also need to modernize and rebuild transmission lines, many of which are outdated or war-damaged.
The investment potential in Ukraine’s energy sector is enormous. Ukraine also has the future potential to export electricity to Europe, especially because its power system was synchronized with the Continental European grid in March 2022, and commercial electricity exchanges began later that year.
Project costs can also be lower in Ukraine than in many European countries. Land and labour costs are generally lower, and Ukraine has strong solar and wind potential, especially in several eastern and southern regions. Studies have found that Ukraine has substantial potential for solar and onshore wind power, including future renewable electricity exports to the European Union.
The return on investment could therefore be very attractive compared to many European countries, although that depends on security conditions, financing, insurance, grid access, and regulatory stability.
When the war ends and reconstruction accelerates, Ukraine will need much more electricity for new industrial production facilities, returning citizens, and expanding businesses. Even now, there are shortages and outages because damaged energy facilities cannot always keep up with demand.
Before the full-scale invasion, Ukraine had about 41 million people. Today, the population inside the country is significantly lower because millions have been displaced abroad or internally. If people return and businesses invest in new production facilities, electricity demand will rise again.
Businesses are not waiting. Many factories and commercial operators are installing their own solar plants, battery systems, and other decentralized energy sources. Some gas station networks and industrial companies are also investing in renewable generation. Households have also installed smaller solar systems, and some sell unused electricity back to the grid.
Ukrainians are adapting quickly. This is not only the government’s problem. Businesses and households understand that energy resilience has become a national survival issue.
There is definitely a future in which Ukraine builds one of the greenest and most resilient energy systems in Europe. Ukraine’s government has approved plans to expand renewable energy, including a target of 27% renewables in the energy mix by 2030 and roughly 10 GW of new renewable generation.
If Ukraine rebuilds wisely, it can become not only a greener country, but also an important electricity supplier to Europe. The potential is huge.
I hope I answered your question.
Jacobsen: Nuclear power was obviously a huge risk in the case of Chernobyl, especially under a compressed timeline and weak safety culture. Modern reactors, as far as I understand, are much safer, have more safeguards, are more efficient overall, and produce more energy. Is nuclear power a potential part of Ukraine’s energy future, or is that unrealistic?
Pryma: Definitely. Ukraine is already working on expanding nuclear power, particularly at the Khmelnytskyi Nuclear Power Plant in western Ukraine. Ukraine is working with Westinghouse on AP1000 reactors, and Khmelnytskyi Units 5 and 6 are planned as the first AP1000 units in the country.
Let us also not forget that the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, was occupied by Russian forces. That meant a major loss of electricity generation capacity for Ukraine. Several thermal power plants have also been damaged or destroyed by Russian attacks.
So, to be safer and more resilient, Ukraine’s energy strategy is to diversify electricity production. That includes nuclear power, renewables, thermal generation where necessary, storage, and other technologies. Nuclear power is definitely one of the key components.
The main thing slowing this down is the war and the constant Russian attacks on energy infrastructure. These projects are not moving as quickly as Ukraine would want, but they are still part of the plan.
Before the full-scale invasion, nuclear power produced roughly half of Ukraine’s electricity. In Ukraine’s long-term energy planning, nuclear power remains central and is expected to provide a large share of electricity in the future.
You cannot really avoid nuclear power in Ukraine’s energy mix. France is a good example of a country that relies heavily on nuclear energy. France gets about two-thirds to 70% of its electricity from nuclear power, one of the highest shares in the world.
Jacobsen: The majority of electricity in France is nuclear.
Pryma: Right. France has one of the largest nuclear fleets in the world, and the largest in Europe. It has debated reducing its reliance on nuclear power, but more recently France has moved toward extending existing reactors and planning new ones.
Ukraine has a similar strategic logic, although under much more difficult conditions. The government has provided a strategy for the energy sector, and one of the key components is nuclear power production.
Ukraine is currently moving ahead with Westinghouse AP1000 plans at Khmelnytskyi, and there are broader plans for additional AP1000 units in the future. I do not remember every region exactly, but Khmelnytskyi is definitely one of the main sites.
Jacobsen: Where do you see UBN and your networks placing themselves in this energy future, in terms of covering these developments, attracting investment, and helping investors understand the market?
Pryma: We are definitely telling the world what is happening in the market. Our goal and strategy are to explain more about Ukraine: what is happening here, who is investing, who is not investing, which companies are entering the market, and which industries are genuinely attractive.
Right now, many people are talking about the mining and critical minerals sector because Ukraine has substantial natural resources, including deposits relevant to battery supply chains and clean energy technologies. The problem is that Ukraine has historically underinvested in exploration and development of many of these resources, which has always been a major missed opportunity.
We want to talk about those deals. The more we talk about them, the more companies become interested in this market. When companies invest, they create jobs and help strengthen the economy. That is our goal.
We are not only covering this news. We are also helping investors. We introduce investors to potential partners and help them find the right people so they can launch their businesses more quickly.
For example, in one recent case, we helped a Finnish company enter the market and buy a land plot. We connected them with the right lawyers, accountants, and real estate brokers, so we helped them with their practical needs.
It is not only about discussing investment opportunities and economic trends. We also help investors through our economic reports. We produce 20 economic reports: 12 monthly reports, 4 quarterly reports, and 4 benchmarking surveys, which are called Voice of the Market reports.
These reports help investors understand the market, the pros and cons of doing business in Ukraine, what they should watch out for, and how they can adjust their strategy. Through our reporting, economic analysis, and data, we help them make better decisions and become more successful here.
The idea is to help investors and new companies enter the Ukrainian market with less turbulence. We want them to come here and say, “We are in the right place. We want to do business here for the next 20 or 30 years.”
That will definitely benefit our country and our citizens. That is our goal.
Jacobsen: Andrew, thank you again for your time. I am sure we will have opportunities to interact in the future as well.
Pryma: Thank you, Scott. Thank you for your time.
Scott Douglas Jacobsen is a Canadian journalist and publisher who serves as Times Asian’s Editor for Canada and Ukraine Affairs and writes on international affairs.
