NEW YORK: DKK 130 million has been pledged. One of the largest Danish donations to rebuild Ukrainian energy infrastructure. The Minister for Climate-, Energy and Utilities Lars Aagaard announced the donation in the presence of among others US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and the Foreign Minister of Ukraine Andrii Sybiha on the occasion of the G7+ ministers meeting on energy security support for Ukraine earlier today.
Russia has intensified the targeted attacks on the Ukrainian power and heat supply this spring causing demolishment of approximately 80 percent of the Ukrainian non-nuclear energy infrastructure. According to IEA, the Ukrainian energy system faces grave challenges in the coming winter due to the massive and strategic attacks on the Ukrainian energy infrastructure that have intensified since march 2024.
"Putin's army not only enters the Ukrainian borders, Russia violates the rules of war with the massive attacks on Ukraine's electricity and heating system. Consequently, many Ukrainians face a winter without heating and power, and if it wasn’t enough, ordinary people working in the energy sector are also being targeted for merely doing their jobs,” says the Minister for Climate-, Energy and Utilities Lars Aagaard.
The Danish donation is financed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark’s Ukraine Fund to support urgent measures and to buy equipment and spare parts enabling to rebuild / restore security of energy supply. The donation will be executed though UNDP, Energy Community, Danish Refugee Council, and Danish Red Cross.
FACTS: Danish-Ukrainian energy cooperation
- In total, Denmark has donated approximately DKK 492 million to energy projects in Ukraine since Russia’s invasion.
- Since the invasion, Danish companies have donated equipment though the Danish Energy Agency four times.
- Established in 2014, the Danish-Ukrainian Partnership on Energy originated through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ program; “Denmark’s partnership with the Eastern Neighbourhood Countries 2023-26” while the Danish Energy Agency executes the initiatives in close collaboration with the Embassy of Denmark in Ukraine, the Ukrainian Ministry of Energy, and other key local partners.
- The partners revised the program shortly after the invasion in order to support rebuilding and transitioning the energy sector on a short- and mid-term basis. In 2023, however, the partnership also regained its original focus of assisting Ukraine’s long-term energy transition.
- The main pillars of the partnership are to contribute to keeping the Ukrainian energy system up and running throughout the winter, to strengthen the security of energy supply, and to prepare the energy sector to merge with the EU on a legislative level.