Germany Learns From Ukraine To Protect Energy
- 19.05.2026, 21:16
Three lessons.
Ukraine speaks, Germany listens. And learns. In the fifth year of Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine, energy seems to be the second area after the military sphere, in which Kiev is increasingly acting not only as an aid seeker but also as an expert for the West. Within the framework of the recently proclaimed government of Chancellor Friedrich Merz strategic partnership in the Foreign Ministry of the Federal Republic of Germany in Berlin on Tuesday, May 19, held a conference on energy security "Lessons from Ukraine". It was attended by ministers, state secretaries, and representatives of energy companies from Germany, Ukraine, Poland, Moldova, and Canada. Diplomats, including those from Arab and Asian countries, were also in attendance, DW reports.
As in the area of military aid, Germany has become a key partner for Ukraine, Foreign Minister Johann Wadeful reminded in opening the conference. According to him, Berlin has allocated 1.2 billion euros to rebuild Ukraine's energy facilities destroyed by Russian missile and drone strikes and to protect them. Ukraine's energy minister, former defense minister and ex-prime minister Denis Shmygal also praised Germany's help.
The sound of running generators has become part of Ukrainians' daily lives, Wadeful said. "President Putin sees energy infrastructure as a goal and a means of psychological pressure," the minister said, noting that Moscow's goal is to "break the morale" of the population. But "Ukraine is resisting" and its cities, hospitals and railroads have "adapted," according to Wadeful. German participants are particularly impressed by the speed with which Ukraine is restoring power. That Ukraine is paying a "high price" for these "lessons" it is now sharing with its partners was recalled by Elena Pavlenko, an energy expert and head of the DiXi Group think tank. "We are ready to help," she said.
Germany is at the very beginning of preparing its energy infrastructure in case of "crisis situations." On the eve of the energy conference, Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt announced plans to invest 10 billion euros to buy machinery and equipment and build or modernize protective structures. For now, Berlin is preparing for possible acts of sabotage, seeing the main threat from Russia. Residents of the German capital could feel the consequences of a similar situation in early 2026, when left-wing extremists allegedly left tens of thousands of Berliners without light and partially without heat for several days.
Germany's energy infrastructure is very vulnerable because it is centralized and the facilities themselves are easy to disable, for example, with the help of drones, conference participants said. So far, there have been no precedents with UAVs, but Ukraine's experience is in front of everyone's eyes.
What exactly does Ukraine advise Germany? There are three main lessons. Everyone was talking about them, but perhaps the most clearly stated by Maxim Timchenko, the head of the largest Ukrainian private energy company DTEK. According to him, first of all, it is important to train people, specialists of energy companies, on how to behave before, during and after a missile or UAV strike. For example, it is necessary to stop the turbines of power plants a few minutes after the announcement of the alarm.
The second lesson he called planning - decentralization of energy supply and creation of equipment reserves. How Ukraine is doing this, Energy Minister Shmygal said. According to him, Kiev has studied the scale of destruction during the past winter, the most difficult for the Ukrainian energy sector, when hundreds of thousands of residents of the capital were left without light, heat and water in freezing temperatures. Ukraine has calculated its needs and is building up stocks of equipment with an eye to an even more dire situation, storing one-third on its territory and two-thirds abroad.
The third lesson that Ukraine's representatives voiced in Berlin was a multi-level system of defense. From sandbags, partial relocation of facilities underground or construction of concrete shelters over them to installation of air defense systems near power facilities. This is the most reliable, but also the most expensive and slowest, Schmygal admitted.
Not all the advice seems applicable to Germany, if only because it is not at war. It's hard to imagine placing air defense complexes next to all of Germany's power plants. But defense against drones could become part of the security duties of private concerns. As one speaker said, military and civilian agencies should work more closely together.
"Network operators are part of the national security system. It was different two years ago," said Stephan Kapferer, a top manager at 50 Hertz, the operator of the electricity transmission system in northern and eastern Germany.
A phrase often heard at the conference was that energy has become the "front line" in warfare - hot in Ukraine and hybrid in Europe. How energy security is a sensitive topic is shown by the fact that - a rare occurrence - only the first part of the conference at the German Foreign Ministry was available to the press, the second part was held behind closed doors.