The President of the European Commission said that Ukraine's partners must do everything possible to “keep the light” in the country.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said she would visit Kyiv on Friday, September 20, to discuss Ukraine's energy needs with Zelensky.
Kyiv Independent writes about this.
Speaking at a press conference in Brussels on Thursday alongside International Energy Agency Director Fatih Birol, von der Leyen said Russia was “trying to plunge Ukraine into darkness,” adding that Russian strikes had already destroyed 80 percent of Ukraine's thermal power plants and a third of its hydroelectric capacity.
“As friends and partners of Ukraine, we must do everything possible to keep the lights on,” the EC President said.
She noted that Ukraine needs 17 gigawatts of electricity this winter and named three main areas of energy assistance that the EU plans to provide.
According to von von der Leyen, these steps will provide Ukraine with about 4.5 gigawatts of electricity, or just over 25% of its winter needs.
At the first stage, the EU will help Ukraine repair power grid facilities damaged by Russian strikes in order to restore 2.5 gigawatts of capacity.
“At the moment, an entire thermal power plant is being dismantled in Lithuania and, with our support, is being sent to Ukraine in parts,” von der Leyen explained.
The EU will also export electricity to Ukraine. Preliminary, we are talking about 2 gigawatts of electricity, which is equivalent to the loss of capacity of the occupied Zaporizhia NPP.
The third area of EU energy assistance is the stimulation of decentralized and renewable generation to stabilize the Ukrainian energy system.
Recall that Ursula von der Leyen announced the strengthening of humanitarian aid to Ukrainians in anticipation of the cold weather. Due to the ongoing attacks by the Russian Federation on Ukraine's energy infrastructure, the European Commission will allocate 40 million euros to repair energy facilities before winter.
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