Over the past 2.5 years, the EU has made a significant contribution to supporting the Ukrainian energy sector, in addition, EUR 100 million was recently allocated for winter preparations in Ukraine, Ambassador of the European Union to Ukraine Katarína Mathernová has said.

"We just did EUR 100 million for winter preparedness, and we have also put an additional EUR 100 million through KFW to Ukrenergo to boost your energy sector operator, grid operator. And one of the unsung heroes, one of the important areas of support is called the civil protection mechanism. In the early weeks and months of the full-scale war, it was the main channel that was bringing to Ukraine all the emergency equipment of all sorts. And now it is concentrated mostly on energy delivery, including all the turbines and generators, etc.," the ambassador said in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine.

She noted that equipment is supplied through them not only from EU member states, but also from other donors, in particular Japan, Korea, Canada and others.

"We provide the logistics and transportation channel. We collect the material in an energy hub in eastern Poland and from there it's then delivered here, and that has been estimated at another cost of around EUR 100 million," Mathernová said.

In addition, the EU has already provided more than a thousand high-voltage generators and small turbines to help Ukrainians prepare for winter.

In the context of strengthening the energy sector of Ukraine, the ambassador emphasized that one of the important events was the accession of the Ukrainian and Moldovan grids to the continental European grid ENTSO-e. She also recalled the trust fund created at the Energy Community Secretariat in Vienna, which attracts resources for the Ukrainian energy sector.

According to the ambassador, this winter will be harder than last year. "I think people should brace themselves for difficult times, but I very much hope we will be able to avoid a catastrophic scenario," she added.