Statement by Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal at Government session

Dear colleagues! Fellow Ukrainians!

We are starting a regular meeting of the Government.

Ukraine has passed the third wartime heating season, and we are now actively preparing for the next winter. We are implementing a range of measures to boost our energy sector.

Last week the government team worked in Washington. One of the priorities was to find additional resources for energy resilience.

We signed an agreement with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development to raise EUR 270 million. The Norwegian government is also providing a grant of EUR 140 million. With these funds, we plan to purchase an additional 1 billion cubic metres of gas to ensure that Ukrainian homes have light and heat next winter.

I would like to remind you that this winter the enemy carried out a series of massive attacks on Ukrainian gas production infrastructure.

It caused losses of almost 50% of total production. Nevertheless, the sector has withstood and is steadily supplying consumers with “blue fuel”.

We are currently actively working to compensate for these losses, in particular through imports.

Since the beginning of the year, we have already contracted 1.5 billion cubic metres of gas. Another 300 million cubic metres of liquefied natural gas will be purchased by Naftogaz from the Polish company Orlen.

We are diversifying our energy sources to ensure that we have sufficient gas volumes for the next winter.

Today we are also making an important decision to accelerate domestic gas production.

We are simplifying the procedures for private oil and gas companies to set up energy storage facilities and build the facilities necessary to connect to the Ukrainian gas transmission system.

In Washington, the government team signed another important energy agreement with the World Bank.

We will receive additional financing in the amount of USD 70 million. These are funds for Ukrhydroenergo to purchase solar panels and batteries for four generation facilities. Their total capacity will be more than 230 MW

Last year, we also agreed to receive EUR 200 million in assistance from the Italian government and the EBRD to restore hydropower. We have already received the first tranche of this assistance in the amount of EUR 50 million.

As in previous years, the energy reconstruction will continue 24/7. We will definitely restore everything that can be restored.

I thank Ukrainian power engineers for their tireless work!

Also today, the Government has extended the PSO for electricity until the end of October 2025. This means that citizens will continue to pay for electricity at the unchanged tariff of UAH 4.32 per kWh.

In addition, almost 3 million families receive housing benefits and subsidies. Starting from 1 May, as the heating season comes to an end, they will be recalculated automatically.

Thus, in the context of a full-scale war, we are supporting our people and reducing the burden on the budgets of Ukrainian families.

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Ukrainian farmers continue the fourth wartime sowing campaign. We have already sown 2 million hectares of spring grains and pulses. This is 35% of the expected area.

The Government supports agricultural producers through various programmes and mechanisms.

This year, more than 2,600 agricultural enterprises received soft loans under the 5-7-9 programme worth UAH 15.4 billion, and in total, farmers have attracted UAH 34.6 billion in loans under various programmes.

In April, the Bank started paying out special subsidies to farmers worth over UAH 386 million for livestock farming.

Thanks to the programme to compensate 25% of the cost of Ukrainian agricultural machinery, farms purchased more than 6,000 units.

The Government is also launching a programme to support cotton farmers.

The payment will amount to UAH 10,000 per hectare. We are talking about three regions: Mykolaiv, Odesa and Kherson regions. This will be an incentive for the development of light industry and will also strengthen the state’s defence capability.

In addition, we are improving the mechanism for compensating for the cost of demining agricultural land. We are clarifying a number of technical issues that will speed up the compensation procedure.

Since the beginning of the full-scale war, at least 200 people have been injured during agricultural work. Therefore, our task is to clear the fields of mines as soon as possible for the safety of Ukrainians and for the development of the agricultural sector.

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I am grateful to everyone who is defending our country today.

I am grateful to the employees of critical infrastructure enterprises, teachers, doctors, rescuers, entrepreneurs and all Ukrainians who work for our resilience and the future of Ukraine.

We will withstand and rebuild!

Thank you for your attention! Glory to Ukraine!