During her meeting with the Ukrainian Energy Minister, German Galushchenko, in Kyiv on Monday 6 May, the European Commissioner for Energy, Kadri Simson, stressed that the EU would support Ukraine in rebuilding its energy infrastructure, which has been the target of several Russian attacks in recent weeks.
“We have already lost more than 8 GW. But we are working hard to restore the facilities affected and we will do so as far as possible”, declared Mr Galushchenko during this interview.
The two parties also exchanged views on preparations for the coming winter, equipment needs that could be supplied by European partners and financial support, in particular through the mechanisms of the Ukraine Energy Support Fund, established under the Energy Community Secretariat.
They then stressed the importance of the potential of interconnections between Ukraine and European countries, the future integration of Ukrainian energy markets into the European market and the corresponding regulatory and legal preparations.
In addition, they discussed the termination of the contract for the transit of Russian gas to Europe later this year.
“The EU has been preparing for this for two years. We know that Russia is an unreliable gas supplier”, said Commissioner Simson.
She also mentioned the new package of sanctions against Russia, which for the first time targets Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) (see other news). (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)