Ukraine's Energy Minister German Galushchenko met with a Swedish delegation headed by Johan Forssell, Minister for International Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade of Sweden. The meeting was also attended by representatives of the Swedish Embassy in Ukraine and Swedish businesses.

German Galushchenko briefed the Swedish side on the challenging situation in Ukraine's energy sector as a result of massive russian attacks on energy infrastructure.

"We have lost about 9 GW of capacity, with thermal and hydro generation and power transmission substations suffering the most. We are currently forced to impose restrictions on consumers. But the enemy keeps on attacking, so we are working to increase generation capacity to the maximum by the next winter. Every additional megawatt is important," he stressed.

The Minister of Energy noted that, in addition to repairs, preparatory work was underway at the damaged facilities to increase the capacity of distributed generation, including the installation of gas turbines, gas piston units and renewable energy facilities.

Johan Forssell emphasised that support for Ukraine was one of the key priorities of Sweden's foreign policy and would remain so. Following the meeting, he noted that the Swedish side would explore the possibility of supplying distributed generation equipment to Ukraine.

The Swedish business representatives present at the meeting also stressed their readiness to deepen cooperation with Ukraine. Particular emphasis was placed on the prospects for cooperation in the field of renewable energy.

German Galushchenko thanked Sweden for its support of the Ukrainian energy sector and contributions to the Ukraine Energy Support Fund. Sweden has already contributed more than EUR 25 million to the Fund and announced an additional contribution of EUR 42.5 million. Moreover, EUR 12.7 million will be channelled to support the energy sector through the United Nations Development Programme in Ukraine.

Since the start of the full-scale russian invasion, Ukraine has received 171 shipments of humanitarian aid from Sweden to support the energy sector, totalling over 1,650 tonnes.