Ukraine's energy sector has lost $2 bln - energy minister

KYIV. March 28 (Interfax-Ukraine) - Ukraine's energy sector has lost $2 billion because of the current situation, Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko said.

"We are doing it [counting the losses] every day. We have the relevant mechanism. The losses are estimated at $2 billion," Halushchenko said in an interview with the Ekonomichna Pravda newspaper.

The losses being counted in this case include not only the cost of damaged or lost property, but also the volume of electricity that could have been generated in normal conditions and, consequently, the money that the producer could have earned by selling it, the minister said.

In particular, control has been lost of the Luhansk Thermal Power Plant and the Akhtyrka Thermal Power Plant has been rendered inoperable, Halushchenko said. Out of the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant's six power generating units, only two are functioning now.