Update, November 12, 2014:

A company in South Africa is now refusing to send more coal to Ukraine. A shipment of 500,000 tons of coal was delivered to Ukraine already, but 1 million tons was ordered. Ukraine is now attempting to find another company to supply coal, but so far, there has been no deal.

Source:http://www.uacrisis.com/sar-refuses-to-deliver-more-coal-to-ukraine/

Update, September 7, 2014:

The Kiev regime is buying 1 million tons of coal from South Africa due to the coal shortage in Ukraine. Prime Minister Yatsenyuk said on September 3 that the first ship was being loaded. [1]

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August 21, 2014

Coal fuels 40% of the Ukrainian power grid. There are 15 nuclear reactors in the country.

Many coal miners left their jobs to defend their towns against the attacks of the neo-Nazi regime currently controlling Kiev. Coal production has fallen drastically. This article from Zero Hedge states Ukraine will potentially run out of coal in three weeks.

What will happen then? Many supply routes have been destroyed. What will happen if there are brownouts or blackouts, and generators do not function correctly?

Fifteen reactors in Ukraine. This is a frightening situation.

August 19, 2014

Ukraine’s next crisis will be a devastatingly economic one, as violent conflict destroys critical infrastructure in the east and brings key industry to a halt, furthering weakening the energy sector by crippling coal-based electricity production.

The Ukrainian military’s showdown with separatists in the industrial east has forced coal mines to severely cut production or close down entirely. This has led to an electricity crisis that can only be staunched by cutting domestic production along with exports to Europe, Crimea, and Belarus — or worse, getting more imports from Russia.

In the coal centers of Ukraine’s industrial east—Luhansk and Donetsk—fighting has forced the full closure of an estimated 50 percent of coal mines, while overall coal production has fallen 22 percent over the same period last year.

Key industry sources say they will potentially run out of coal in less than three weeks.

For Ukraine, the second largest producer of coal in Europe, this will have a devastating impact on the energy sector, which is in a state of emergency, unable to get coal to thermal power plants that provide some 40 percent of the entire country’s electricity.

In the wider energy picture, the halt of coal production sets Ukraine back a decade. The plan was to rely more on coal in order to reduce dependence on Russian natural gas.

But the new reality has insiders wondering how Ukraine will produce more of its own natural gas, after the implementation earlier this month of an amended tax code that targets private gas producers with a tax so high that they will significantly reduce production through the end of the year and beyond that is anyone’s guess. (Full disclosure: my firm, Pelicourt LLC, is the majority shareholder of Ukraine’s third-largest gas producer, Cub Energy, and I have advised the U.S. and Canadian governments on the potential harm the new tax will cause.)

Economically, the conflict in the east is a disaster for Ukraine, which has traditionally been a net exporter of thermal coal for power generation. Now it will have to increase imports of fuel to make up for the loss. But even then, the destruction of supply routes makes this challenging.

Not only have coal supply routes been destroyed in the conflict, but other critical infrastructure has taken a hit as well, threatening other industries.

For the complete article and comments:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-08-19/ukraine%E2%80%99s-next-crisis-economic-disaster
Ukraine’s Next Crisis? Economic Disaster
Used under Fair Use Rules.

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[1] http://www.bdlive.co.za/world/europe/2014/09/03/ukraine-to-buy-1-million-tonnes-of-coal-from-sa
Ukraine to buy 1-million tonnes of coal from SA

Note: there is a great deal of false information in this story. It is hopeful that the coal shipment is true and will get to Ukraine in time.