Amid the loss of its own gas production: Ukraine has already begun stockpiling gas reserves for the winter
20 March 10:12
Ukraine, forced to increase gas imports after Russia damaged its gas production infrastructure, has already begun pumping gas into underground storage facilities in preparation for the upcoming heating season.
This was reported by Reuters , citing data from the European AGSI, according to [Komersant].
It is noted that Ukraine is currently importing an average of 25–26 million cubic meters of gas daily—primarily from Hungary and Poland.
According to AGSI, a monitoring platform for European gas storage facilities, Ukraine has also begun regularly building up gas reserves, injecting approximately 130 gigawatt-hours per day into storage facilities.
As of March 17, Ukraine’s underground storage facilities, among the largest in Europe, were already nearly 16% full. Earlier, the Ministry of Energy stated that it intends to start the 2026–2027 heating season with gas reserves of at least 13 billion cubic meters—roughly the same amount as in the previous season.
Since the start of the full-scale war, Ukraine has not disclosed full information about gas imports. The consulting firm DiXi Group stated on Thursday that Ukraine reduced gas consumption by 4% last year to 21 billion cubic meters, with the population accounting for 36% of consumption, or 7.6 billion cubic meters.
According to the consulting firm, in 2025, industry consumed 5 billion cubic meters of gas, heat producers consumed 3.9 billion cubic meters, municipal and government agencies consumed 2.5 billion cubic meters, and losses amounted to 2 billion cubic meters. By 2021, gas consumption in Ukraine stood at 30.3 billion cubic meters, but in 2022 it fell to 20.3 billion cubic meters.
Reuters notes that Russian strikes have knocked out about half of Ukraine’s gas production capacity, and Ukraine, which previously covered nearly all its needs through domestic production, is now forced to import gas.
