Zelenskyy seeks US investments in Ukraine’s battered energy sector

President proposes special incentives to US companies to rebuild Ukraine’s energy system damaged by Russian attacks.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has met business representatives in the United States, seeking investments in his country’s energy sector targeted by Russian air attacks.

Zelenskyy said on X on Tuesday that “the primary focus was on preparing Ukraine’s energy system for the winter” as the country fears power outages.

The meeting in New York was attended by representatives from energy, finance and insurance companies, as well as the head of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), Samantha Power, and deputy secretary of state for management and resources, Richard Verma.

Zelenskyy proposed special incentives.

“This is a proposition from us. It is one of the points of our victory plan,” he said in a video posted online.

In New York, I met with executives from leading U.S. energy, finance, and insurance companies, as well as U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator @SamanthaJPower and U.S. @DepSecStateMR Richard Verma.

The primary focus was on preparing Ukraine's energy system for… pic.twitter.com/r7lAhTaaSM

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) September 24, 2024

The first big wave of Russian air strikes hit Ukraine’s energy infrastructure months after Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The attacks have continued throughout the war, though Moscow has markedly stepped up its campaign since last March.

Each wave of strikes has left Ukrainian cities without power for hours at a time for weeks on end.

Ukraine says the targeting of its energy system is a war crime, and the International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for four Russian officials and military officers for the bombing of civilian power infrastructure.

Russia says power infrastructure is a legitimate military target and has dismissed the charges against its officials as irrelevant.

Last week, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU) said Russian air strikes probably violate international humanitarian law.

HRMMU said it had visited seven power plants damaged or destroyed by attacks, as well as 28 communities affected by the strikes.

“There are reasonable grounds to believe that multiple aspects of the military campaign to damage or destroy Ukraine’s civilian electricity and heat-producing and transmission infrastructure have violated foundational principles of international humanitarian law,” the report said.

Grim forecasts

HRMMU quoted experts as saying Ukrainians should expect power outages of four to 18 hours a day this winter.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) made a similar grim prediction last week, with Executive Director Fatih Birol saying the coming winter would prove the “sternest test yet” for Ukraine’s energy grid.

Separately, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said last week that “Russia is trying to plunge Ukraine in the dark with targeted attacks on its energy systems”.

She announced on Friday that the European Union pledged to loan Ukraine up to 35 billion euros ($39bn) as part of a plan by the Group of Seven nations to raise $50bn through profits from frozen Russian state assets.

The loan will help Ukraine repair its war-battered energy grid and boost its heating capacity as winter approaches, she said.