The volume of natural gas imports to Ukraine will depend on the volume of its own production losses as a result of Russian attacks on gas infrastructure, according to Head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Energy, Housing and Utilities Services Andriy Gerus.

"We will need to import as much gas as will be lost as a result of shelling. If our production decreases as a result of shelling, then, accordingly, this volume must be imported to maintain the balance," he said in a commentary to Energy Reform on the sidelines of the Solar Invest Forum Ukraine from the Solar Energy Association of Ukraine on Thursday.

The head of the energy committee noted that he is aware of the production losses as a result of the attacks, but "giving this information means informing the enemy how effective the shelling was, and this should not be done." Gerus confirmed that the need to import gas arose primarily due to shelling that could not be predicted.

"I don't know what will happen at the end of February, at the beginning of March, whether there will be frosts or not. But as of today, imports are more or less so as not to experience problems from lost production," Gerus noted.

He suggested that Naftogaz Group currently has funds for imports, but they may have to be attracted from outside to purchase gas in the spring for the next winter.

"One problem is to get through the heating season now, another is to prepare for the next one. And they need to be solved as they approach: first the current one, and then about the next winter," the head of the energy committee said.

According to him, air defense is the most effective protection, including for gas infrastructure, "but it is not so easy to do."

"We must also try to disperse everything that can be dispersed, and build protective structures where possible," he added.

As reported, former head of Naftogaz Andriy Kobolev believes that the only way to overcome the gas deficit in the short term is to import it, and in the long term, Ukraine needs to focus on creating a branched network of small booster compressor stations instead of large ones, the Russian attacks on which significantly reduce the production of resources.