Ukraine’s energy sector is one of the most heavily impacted by Russia’s invasion, with up to 93% of damaged or destroyed assets across power generation, transmission and distribution infrastructure. (Adobe Stock)
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By Edwin J. Viera
Mar 2, 2026
Experts in New York and nationwide have created a plan to bolster Ukraine’s clean energy future.
With the Russia-Ukraine war in its fourth year, attacks on the country’s centralized fossil fuel systems have left almost 40 million people living in the country without heat, electricity or other household essentials.
Darka Harnyk, director of the Ukraine Energy Security Marshall Plan for the group Elected Officials to Protect America, said the plan demonstrates clean energy’s importance to everyday Ukrainians living through the war at home.
“In the opinion of me and my team, (it) is one question and one huge intersection where all of the sides in this world can come together,” Harnyk emphasized. “Because renewable energy solutions are good for climate, just as well as they’re good for military security.”
As the war got underway in 2022, Harnyk noted Ukraine’s government made renewable energy a priority, even obtaining international funding for it. She acknowledged the pace of change has been greatly reduced by the ongoing war. Residents are now taking matters into their own hands, installing solar panels or using battery storage to establish self-reliant clean energy.
Some of the new plan’s goals include cutting dependence on foreign oil, achieving energy independence in Ukraine and rebuilding energy infrastructure without waiting for the end of the war.
Ievgeniia Kopytsia, associate professor of environmental law at Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University in Kharkiv, Ukraine, and a Ukraine policy expert for Elected Officials to Protect America, said the biggest challenge in helping the plan come to fruition is financing.
“What we witnessed, of course, in Ukraine, when there is the absence of geopolitical risk insurance, it does prevent businesses from investing in Ukraine, like till the war is over,” Kopytsia pointed out.
Since the war began in 2022, the country has deployed 1.5 gigawatts of solar, 19 wind turbines producing 324 megawatts of wind power, and a 200-megawatt battery plant.
Igor Tregub, a city council member in Berkeley, California, a member of Elected Officials to Protect America and a former resident of Kyiv who came to the U.S. when the war began, said many tools are being used to secure the Ukraine Energy Security Marshall Plan’s future.
“Partnerships, city-to-city, help drive these needed large-scale investments,” Tregub urged. “Even when there are some national administrations, including, unfortunately, in this country, that have turned the clock back on these kinds of investments.”
