Ukraine Appeals to the West for Energy Assistance

Ukrainian officials have asked their allies in Western countries for billions of dollars in aid for the energy sector, which has been affected by the war, according to the British newspaper "Financial Times." The outgoing Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, stated at a conference in Berlin on Tuesday that his country has "lost half of its electricity generation capacity" due to Russian attacks. He added that the "peak consumption last winter reached 18 gigawatts," noting that "Russian attacks destroyed 9 gigawatts." Zelensky emphasized that "energy generation sources remain one of Russian President Vladimir Putin's main targets," indicating that "Ukraine will need equipment for heating and electricity stations that are currently disabled within the next month." For his part, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz mentioned that "the World Bank estimated that rebuilding and modernizing Ukraine will require investments of about 500 billion dollars over the next 10 years."