A power plant built at the landfall of the Nord Stream gas pipelines in northeastern Germany was shut down after the pipelines were sabotaged. Now the facility is being dismantled and sent to Ukraine.
The Greifswald industrial power plant in Lubmin is majority owned by Germany’s Securing Energy for Europe (SEFE). Adrianne Montgobert, a spokesperson for the state-owned company, confirmed to RFE/RL that dismantling of the plant is currently under way, with its transfer being managed by a team from Naftogaz, Ukraine’s oil and gas giant.
The Nord Stream pipelines, which run under the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany, are no longer operational.
The spokesperson said in an e-mail, “all reuse and sale options [for the Lubmin plant] were explored including actual sales negotiations, but no commercially viable solution emerged.” Donating the facility to Ukraine, Montgobert added, was seen as “the best alternative to scrapping it,” after it ceased operation in April 2023.
A September 2022 file photo of the Greifswald industrial power plant, beside the German landfall of the Nord Stream gas pipelines from Russia. The facility heated gas arriving through Nord Stream 1 and supplied electricity to Germany’s power grid.
Ukraine's energy infrastructure has been repeatedly targeted by Russian strikes in recent weeks in a concerted effort to weaponize the coming months of cold and darkness. The Lubmin facility's transfer is set to be completed within "the first quarter" of 2027, Montgobert said.
An unsuccessful motion to halt the plant's transfer to Ukraine was made in May by the main opposition party, Alternative for Germany (AfD), who claimed the plant's removal would "impair future energy policy options." The AfD has supported ending military aid to Ukraine and lifting sanctions on Russia.
Gerold Juergens, president of the Western Pomerania Business Association, appeared to reference allegations Ukraine was behind the destruction of the Nord Stream pipelines when he told a German media outlet, "many people's impression is: First they blow up the pipeline and then they take away the power plant. You can't explain that to anyone."
The trial of a Ukrainian special forces officer accused of leading a team in sabotaging the Nord Stream pipelines is currently under way in Hamburg. Kyiv has denied involvement in the explosions that ruptured three of the four undersea Nord Stream pipelines in September 2022.
Montgobert said the decision to gift the Greifswald facility to Kyiv “has been met with understanding” from the workers who ran the plant. Its dismantling has “proceeded smoothly, with no reported concerns from long-time employees or managers,” Montgobert said.
An autotransformer being loaded for shipment from Lithuania to Ukraine in 2023.
The transfer of the Lubmin plant is part of a wider EU-led initiative to transfer components of energy facilities, and in some cases entire decommissioned plants, to Ukraine.
In September, Lithuania pledged to donate hundreds of tons of hardware from the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant, which was decommissioned in 2009. In December 2025, the EU completed the dismantling and relocation of a complete gas-fired thermal power plant from Lithuania to Ukraine.
The Vilnius Combined Heat and Power Plant was delivered through 149 separate shipments with a total weight of 2,399 tons. It was not reconstituted, but used for parts at Ukrainian energy facilities.
An EU spokesperson told RFE/RL that more than 4 billion euros ($4.42 billion) of energy security aid has been supplied to Ukraine since Russia's 2022 invasion, which "could generate power capable of supporting up to approximately 9.6 million people."
“We continue to stand firmly with Ukraine, and we are helping Ukrainians get through this winter,” the spokesperson added, declining to comment on how much of the donated energy infrastructure has been destroyed by Russian missile and drone strikes.
An electrical transformer being prepared for shipment to Ukraine at a warehouse in the EU’s Civil Protection Mechanism’s logistic hub in Romania in July 2023.
A July statement from Ukraine’s energy ministry thanked the EU countries involved for donations of energy plant components and said at the time that further decommissioned energy facilities in Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Austria, Croatia, and the Netherlands had been inspected for possible transfers.
The next facility in line for transfer to Ukraine will be the Riga CHP-2 power plant in Latvia. A source in Brussels told RFE/RL on November 11 that two decommissioned coal-fired plants in Germany are currently being looked at for likely transfer. The EU insider declined to name the German plants due to sabotage concerns.