Power engineering in Ukraine: modern economic realities

The energy sector of any country is a strategic one, even in peacetime. Its importance in creating general technological conditions for production and prices for national products, its impact on the quality, cost and comfort of life of the population, its role in shaping macroeconomic characteristics of employment, production scale, foreign trade and inflation in the country, and its significant anthropogenic impact on all components of the environment characterize the key importance of energy in the development of economic, environmental, social and security components of the national economic system. Russia's military aggression has created new internal challenges for the energy sector of our country (physical destruction of energy facilities, reduction of capacity, the need to diversify generation sources, reliability and uninterrupted power supply, etc.), which has strengthened its importance for the current survival and future sustainable development of Ukraine. The purpose of the article is to study the main indicators of the energy sector of modern Ukraine in general and the electric power industry as its key component, to identify transformations caused by military actions. The conducted research allows us to conclude that the full-scale invasion significantly affected all economic characteristics of the electric power industry of our country, changing its absolute and structural characteristics. The electric power sector is going through a difficult stage of transformations, when, in accordance with internal challenges, it is necessary to actively rebuild energy generation and transportation, taking into account the requirements for its diversification, decentralization and national security, and in accordance with external global challenges, it is necessary to take into account the requirements for environmental friendliness and energy efficiency, rational use of nature and prevention of climate change. It can be stated that the energy sector of Ukraine in general and its key component, the electric power industry, despite the destructive negative consequences of military aggression, still performs the basic functions assigned to it of providing all consumers with energy of the appropriate quantity and quality. The country's energy system remains unified and stable thanks to the dedicated work of energy professionals and significant state and international support.