US to provide up to $522 million for Ukraine’s energy system

KYIV (Reuters) – Ukraine and the United States have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) under which Kyiv will receive up to $522 for strengthening the resilience of the Ukrainian energy system, the U.S. embassy in Ukraine said.

Ukraine will receive $422 million in new energy assistance and a further $100 million will be subject to the implementation of certain measures including reforms, the embassy said in a statement released on Sunday.

One of the aims is to help Ukraine restore critical infrastructure, it said, following Russian air attacks on power plants and transformers that left millions of people without electricity at times last winter.

Ukraine has carried out extensive repairs since then but officials have warned of new attacks this winter and Russia struck energy facilities across Ukraine last week.

The MoU is also intended to help Ukraine work towards reform of the energy sector and its transition after the war with Russia to a low-carbon, competitive energy economy integrated with the European Union, the U.S. embassy said.

The embassy announced the MoU following a visit to the U.S. last week by President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.