ZOLTAN IN UKRAINE: All wars are energy wars, and the Ukrainians want BC in the game

LVIV — "All wars are energy wars:" and in this sense, British Columbia is playing a key role in the ongoing conflict between Ukraine and Russia.This line — "all wars are energy wars" — exists with no single, widely attested originator. It distills, however, a widely held body of thought that modern conflicts turn on control of the oil and gas, along with the infrastructure moving the stuff from place-to-place.Michael T. Klare, the American professor of peace and world security studies and author of Resource Wars and Blood and Oil, has written that certain fights “are, at heart, an energy war.” Robert Bryce, the Texas-based energy journalist, author of Power Hungry and A Question of Power, and producer of the Juice documentaries, has written that “all of today’s conflict hotspots are, in one way or another, about energy.” Henry Kissinger told a 2005 meeting of the US-India Business Council that “the amount of energy is finite, up to now in relation to demand, and competition for access to energy can become the life and death for many societies.”.Earlier this year, on April 23, I sat in a backroom of a posh downtown Vancouver restaurant alongside Western Standard alumni Jarryd Jagger, National Post columnist Adam Zivo, and a delegation of Ukrainian politicians, diplomats, and stakeholders. The meeting took place in a hidden back room and, initially, it all felt rather Soviet.Among those present was Andrii Mykholayovych Plakhotniuk, Ukraine’s ambassador to Canada. He took up the post in September 2025 after serving as ambassador to Sweden..One of the main takeaways was clear: the Ukrainian side was unequivocally in support of Canada increasing its energy export infrastructure.The goal, as was explained to us, was to make the world less reliant on Russian energy.The issue is not unique to Ukraine and the demand side is not static. Global electricity consumption is rising, driven by industrial growth, electrification, air conditioning, and data centres. The International Energy Agency projects global power demand growth of roughly 3.6% in 2026 and 3.8% in 2027. Electricity use by data centres is forecast to roughly double by 2030, with AI-focused facilities growing even faster. The US Energy Information Administration expects American power consumption to set new records in 2026 and 2027 on the same AI-driven load. More electrons, and more molecules of gas and oil to make them, are required..Ezra Levant, former publisher of the Western Standard and author of Ethical Oil: The Case for Canada’s Oil Sands, has long argued that the source of those molecules matters. He measures production against four criteria: environmental responsibility, peace, treatment of workers, and human rights. On those measures, he writes, Canadian oil ranks ahead of barrels from Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, and other suppliers where the proceeds fund repression or conflict. Every additional Canadian barrel exported, in his framing, is one less sold by those regimes.This applies to Russia and Ukraine, as well, naturally..The delegation we spoke to in Vancouver mentioned west-coast pipelines as a particular area of interest in this regard.That private exchange lines up with the public position Ukrainian officials have taken since.On July 25, Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal said Ukraine was seeking a 30-year strategic energy agreement with Canada and proposing an “energy security bridge” focused on Canadian LNG supplies.“We seek to diversify gas supply routes as much as possible,” he said. In September, Shmyhal and Canadian Energy Minister Tim Hodgson issued a joint statement recognizing the importance of diversified natural gas supplies for energy security and welcoming dialogue with the Canadian private sector on long-term LNG agreements from Canada to Ukraine.Naftogaz has signed a memorandum with the proposed Kino Aski LNG project to explore Canadian cargoes for the European market..The war has made the point concrete. Russia has used energy as leverage against Europe and as a target against Ukraine. Ukraine has struck Russian refining capacity. The contest is over who supplies whom, and on what terms. Canada sits on large volumes of oil and gas with a Pacific coastline that faces Asia. Shipping times from British Columbia to major Asian buyers run roughly eight to ten days, shorter than routes from the US Gulf Coast that must clear the Panama Canal or other chokepoints.This series starts from that April 23 backroom and moves east. All wars are energy wars. Russia has treated gas and oil as both weapon and target. Ukraine has answered by asking for more supply from countries that do not use the proceeds to fund the war against it..Canada has the molecules, the Pacific coastline, and the stated willingness. It does not yet have the full export capacity the Ukrainians asked for in Vancouver.LNG Canada Phase 1 is shipping. More than 100 cargoes have left Kitimat for Asia. Phase 2, Woodfibre, Cedar LNG, and the Pacific Link oil line remain proposals or works in progress. Conservative Party of BC Leader Lorne Doerkson has stayed committed to expanding energy export projects. He welcomed the October 1 designation of Pacific Link as a project of national interest and has pointed to the party’s Energy Superpower Plan. .On the federal North Coast tanker ban, the Oil Tanker Moratorium Act that bars large oil tankers from loading or unloading along the northern BC coast, he has been noncommittal. During the campaign he did not commit to removing it.After the election he questioned a ban he said “applies to Canadians and nobody else,” noting that American tankers move oil down the same coast from Alaska every day. .He has said the focus is on the project in front of them and that the debate belongs in Ottawa. He has not yet fully joined or committed to the federal Conservative push to scrap the ban altogether.That restraint matters in the broader contest.Russia has used energy as leverage against Europe and as a target against Ukraine.A northern export route from BC would open another path to Asia that does not rely on Russian molecules.The southern Pacific Link route is the one currently designated. The northern coast remains closed to large Canadian oil tankers.Whether a BC Conservative government in waiting will press Ottawa to change that remains open.

ZOLTAN IN UKRAINE: All wars are energy wars, and the Ukrainians want BC in the game

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