“President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi held talks with the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen in Kyiv.”, — write: www.president.gov.ua
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi held talks with the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen in Kyiv.
“Today’s negotiations were as meaningful as possible. The priorities are obvious – the defense of Ukraine. Our positions, our soldiers, completely fair pressure on Russia for war. Support for our stability – Ukraine and the whole of Europe. A particularly urgent issue now, before winter, is energy, protection and restoration of our infrastructure,” the Head of State said during a joint press conference with the President of the European Commission.
Volodymyr Zelenskyi and Ursula von der Leyen discussed in detail the support of the Ukrainian energy industry: needs, necessary resources and strengthening the protection of critical facilities.
Separately, the President noted the decision announced the day before on additional support from the EU to prepare for winter in the amount of about 160 million euros, of which 100 million are from revenues from frozen Russian assets.
The head of state emphasized that full use of frozen Russian assets is necessary to protect Ukraine from Russian aggression, a clear mechanism for allocating those 50 billion dollars. the USA, regarding which there is agreement and a general decision at the political level, as well as the strengthening of sanctions against the aggressor state.
Volodymyr Zelenskyi also noted joint work for the full implementation of the Peace Formula. According to him, it is necessary to strengthen Ukraine as much as possible in order to hold the second Peace Summit already this year.
The leaders paid special attention to Ukraine’s accession to the EU.
“Our teams will work to speed up the process of such important negotiations for us,” the President added.
Ursula von der Leyen noted that the European Commission has developed a plan to support the Ukrainian energy industry in the winter period. It provides for the restoration of 2.5 GW of energy capacity, as well as the continuation of Ukraine’s accession to the European energy network. In addition, the EU plans to export 2 GW of electricity to Ukraine and ensure a stable energy supply in all regions. Thanks to this, it will be possible to cover more than 25% of energy needs in winter.
“Now we ship mobile gas turbines, solar panels. We also discussed issues related to the protection of power plants,” said the President of the European Commission.
According to her, the European Commission has also adopted proposals that will enable the EU to provide Ukraine with a loan of up to 35 billion euros from the aid package agreed upon by the Group of Seven.
“It is very important that this loan will be transferred directly to your state budget. This will improve Ukraine’s macro-financial stability and provide you with significant fiscal support. You will decide how best to use these funds,” said Ursula von der Leyen.
