Minister of Energy of Ukraine German Galushchenko discussed with European Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson, who arrived on an official visit to Kyiv, cooperation to strengthen the resilience of the Ukrainian energy system and preparations for the next heating season.

German Galushchenko noted that the situation in the energy system after the massive russian attacks was rather difficult.

“We have already lost more than 8 GW. However, we are working to restore the affected facilities and will restore as much as possible. Urgent solutions also include increasing generation by next winter, in particular, peaking capacities,” the Minister said.

European Commissioner Kadri Simson said the European Union would help Ukraine rebuild its energy infrastructure so that industry and households did not face restrictions on electricity supplies.

The parties discussed the needs of the Ukrainian energy sector for equipment that could be provided by European partners. Particular attention was paid to financial support, including through the mechanisms of the Ukraine Energy Support Fund established under the Energy Community Secretariat. In addition, the importance of the potential of interconnectors between Ukraine and European countries to allow electricity imports to balance the system was highlighted.

The meeting discussed coordination of international cooperation to increase pressure on russia and oust the aggressor country from global energy markets. In this context, the parties discussed, in particular, the termination of the contract for the transit of russian gas to Europe.

“The EU has been preparing for this for two years. We know that russia is an unreliable gas supplier,” the European Commissioner stressed, recalling that russia had repeatedly manipulated prices on the gas market.

Kadri Simson also announced the European Commission’s intention to approve a new package of sanctions against russia.

“The sanctions should deprive russia of the opportunity to be any kind of player in the global markets,” said German Galushchenko.

The parties also discussed the integration of Ukrainian energy markets into the European ones and the implementation of the relevant regulatory framework.