The effects of the russian federation-Ukraine conflict on the european union's efforts for energy security and the future of europe's energy landscape

The Russian Federation-Ukraine conflict has caused the European Union (EU) to face an unprecedented energy crisis. The inability of the EU to implement the principles presented in its policy documents during past crises, including the annexation of Crimea in 2014, and the continuation of energy relations with the Russian Federation as before were the most important reasons behind the current crisis. In this study, the dynamics of the EU, Ukraine and Russian Federation energy nexus and the roles of other actors who are or may be involved in the equation were analyzed and the changes in the EU's energy imports were presented primarily. In this respect, it has been observed that there has been a dramatic increase in the EU's liquefied natural gas (LNG) consumption and imports. With the commencement of the conflicts, the EU has reacted swiftly, by taking advantage of the infrastructure provided by its previous policy documents and the REPowerEU Plan, which addresses climate targets and energy security in the same framework, has been at the center of this reaction. When the impacts of the REPowerEU Plan were analyzed, it has been observed that the Russian Federation-Ukraine conflict affected EU's energy security efforts positively, but there are still opportunities and challenges that need to be addressed in order to fully ensure EU energy security. In particular, it has been identified that the significant increase of the share of particular supplier countries and energy sources in EU's energy mix and the dominance of particular supplier countries on the supply of Rare Earth Elements (REEs) required for renewable energy are of great importance. Subsequently, possible pathways for the future of Europe's energy environment have been put forward, recognizing that the approach to these opportunities and challenges will determine the course of EU's energy security. In this regard, it was concluded that the EU's orientation towards renewable energy by producing solutions for uninterrupted supply of REEs, is the ideal course of action in the context of ensuring energy security and climate objectives together.