After months of power outages, Ukraine is working with its partners to speed up the repair process.
Ukraine has enough coal and gas reserves to last through the remaining winter months despite Russia’s attacks on its energy infrastructure, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal has said.
Shmyhal said the situation in the energy sector is difficult but under control after months of Russian drone and missile attacks on critical infrastructure that destroyed about 40 percent of the energy sector.
“So far, all of Russia’s attempts to plunge Ukraine into darkness have failed,” Shmyhal told a government meeting on Monday.
“We have enough reserves to continue and finish the heating season in a normal way. About 11 billion cubic meters of gas are stored in gas reserves and about 1.2 million tons of coal are in storage.”
Shmyhal added that the government has approved a decision to allow the state-owned oil and gas company, Naftogaz, to receive a 189 million ($205m) grant from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
Despite the warmer than usual days of December and January, parts of Ukraine are experiencing blackouts due to power shortages.
But Shmyhal said the country is continuing to work with its partners to speed up repairs, restore distribution centers, and implement new energy efficiency programs.
Russia launched a military and drone campaign against Ukraine to increase pressure on Kyiv this winter after the Ukrainian military won several airstrikes.
Ukraine has condemned the airstrikes as “war”. Russia has always refused to attack civilians.
At a meeting of Ukraine’s allies last week, he pledged to send air defense systems and other equipment to bolster Kyiv’s ability to counter Russian aggression.
But Ukraine continues to ask Western countries for more armored vehicles, including tanks it wants to fight against Russian forces in the coming months.
Kyiv has been pleading for months for Western tanks, which it says must provide its firepower and maneuverability to break through Russia’s defense lines and recapture the captured territory.
As the Russian airstrike continues for months, Ukrainian and European military officials say Moscow is facing a weapons shortage after firing thousands of missiles and rockets into Ukraine since it invaded 11 months ago.
In a speech on Monday, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Russia’s armed forces were sufficient to continue fighting in Ukraine.
“Our opponents are looking, from time to time they say we don’t have this or that… I want to disappoint them. We have enough of everything,” Medvedev said during a visit to the Kalashnikov factory in Izhevsk, about 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) east of Moscow.
In a video posted on his Telegram channel, Medvedev was seen inspecting guns, ammunition, missiles and drones.
Medvedev told the officials during the visit that the drones are very important for his “special military role”.
Drones, used by warring nations, have been deemed more accurate, cheaper and safer to operate than human aircraft.
Medvedev, who is now the deputy chairman of the Security Council, became the head of a new military-industrial complex last December to oversee the production of military equipment.
He is one of Russia’s most hawkish pro-war voices.
Last week, he said that defeat in Ukraine could lead to nuclear war.
