Zelenskyy on this year's heating season: «We understand where to get gas»

Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Photo is for illustrative purposes: Evhenii Maloletka/AP Photo/picture alliance

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that Ukraine is ready to provide itself with gas worth about $2 billion if necessary. According to him, the government already has a clear understanding of where to get these funds and where to import fuel from.

The head of state said this during a conversation with journalists, according to NikVesti with reference to «Ukrinform».

«We understand where to get gas worth about 2 billion dollars. If we need it. We expect that in a very difficult situation, Ukraine should be ready to find gas worth 2 billion dollars. We have found some of the tranches. Norway has provided a grant of 100 million dollars, and will also provide another tranche in January. Several other countries are providing matching grants. We have an agreement with our banks. That is, there is an understanding of where to get money. And there is an understanding of where to get gas,» Volodymyr Zelenskyy said .

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The President noted that Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko had reached positive agreements with Slovakia, and Energy Minister Svitlana Hrynchuk had reached positive agreements with energy companies in the United States.

«There is an agreement on American LNG: if we want, it will come from Poland, the Polish terminal. We can also take additional gas from Greece, we have agreed with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. We also have an understanding with other countries, we have agreements. We also have agreements with Azerbaijan. Everyone is working on it. From what I've seen, the gas issue will be resolved,» the Head of State emphasised.

He also emphasised that the United States would be able to completely displace Russian gas from the European market.

«We must understand that despite certain agreements and so on, Russia has lost Europe to the Americans. Of course, Ukraine helped. American energy companies want to enter the Ukrainian market. One example is a bilateral gas project with the Americans — as an option, an LNG terminal could be built in Odesa, but we need to negotiate with Turkey to make the Bosphorus work for this. We presented this entire gas project to the White House and American companies. This is a major gas project. We can talk about American gas. They see that we have the largest gas storage facilities, that we have a network. They are interested in this,» the President noted.

The energy situation in Ukraine

On the night of 3 October, the Russian army carried out the most powerful attack on the gas production facilities of Naftogaz of Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale invasion.

A few days later, Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko said that Russia's massive attack on the night of 10 October was one of the largest concentrated strikes on Ukraine's energy facilities. The shelling caused significant damage to energy infrastructure in several regions of the country.

Earlier, Bloomberg reported that Russian strikes had destroyed 60% of Ukraine's gas production before the winter. If the shelling continues, Ukraine may be forced to import about 4.4 billion cubic metres of gas by the end of March 2026.

Ukraine's Energy Minister Svitlana Hrynchuk has already said that due to the shelling of energy infrastructure, Ukraine will increase gas imports by 30%. At the same time, the government extended the fixed gas price for Ukrainians for another year.

Later, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas said during a joint press conference with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha that the Union plans to provide Ukraine with another €100 million in aid to prepare for the winter period.

As a reminder, Mykolaiv is also preparing for the heating season, taking into account possible attacks on its energy and gas transmission infrastructure. Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych urged the townspeople to be prepared for the most difficult scenarios, as Russian attacks on the energy system could be repeated. Read more about this in the article NikVesti: «This winter may be more difficult»: How Mykolaiv is preparing for the heating season».