Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko and European Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson have discussed the security of energy supplies amid the war.
The relevant statement was made by the Ukrainian Energy Ministry on Facebook.
“The high-level dialogue, Ukraine-EU Strategic Energy Partnership, was held in Kyiv with the participation of Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko and European Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson. In the course of the meeting, the parties discussed the security of energy supplies to Ukraine and the EU in view of the continuation of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine and the Russia-provoked energy crisis in the European markets,” the report states.
According to Simson, this winter will be challenging, but Europe will get through it thanks to the gas volumes accumulated in storages and energy saving measures. Next year EU countries should completely withdraw from Russian gas.
Galushchenko offered European countries to make use of Ukrainian underground gas storage facilities in order to pump in additional gas volumes.
“We are ready to offer European partners the reserve capacity of 15 billion cubic meters in Ukrainian underground gas storage facilities at favorable rates,” Galushchenko said.
At the meeting, special attention was given to Ukraine’s energy sector in view of Russia’s continuous massive attacks on critical infrastructure.
Galushchenko thanked the EU for the aid provided in order to carry out repair works within the damaged or destroyed facilities and grids.
According to Galushchenko, Russian massive attacks on energy infrastructure cannot go unpunished. In his words, it is necessary to develop a system of sanctions, which could be immediately introduced in case of repeated massive attacks on energy infrastructure. (Ukrinform/Business World Magazine)