Zelenskiy, the Ukrainian Zelenskiy, orders faster imports for electricity and power equipment

Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the president of Ukraine, said that he has ordered imports to be as fast as possible. This is because Ukraine is facing its worst energy crisis since World War II. The government declared an emergency because the damaged system is only meeting 60% of its electricity needs. Extremely cold temperatures have exacerbated the situation.

Zelenskiy, after a meeting of top military and government officials on X, said that "all decisions are already in place" for the importation increase. According to the energy ministry, scheduled power cuts were in place in?most of the regions. In and around Kyiv the situation was particularly difficult, with residents facing long blackouts. Hundreds of apartment buildings were left without heat as temperatures dropped to 16 Celsius. Yulia Svyrydenko, the Prime Minister of Ukraine, said that the government and state energy company Naftogaz discussed the possibility of importing additional gas this year. She did not give any details about the volumes. She said that Naftogaz imported 5.7 billion cubic meters of gas last year using funds from international partners and state funding. Ukraine had to start importing gas in spring 2025 due to the attacks of 'hundreds of Russian missiles and drones on gas production sites. Naftogaz reported that Russia has struck its gas-production facilities six times in the past week. (Reporting and editing by Toby Chopra, Kevin Liffey and OlenaHarmash)

(source: Reuters)