German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock announced an additional 100 million euros ($111 million) in aid for Ukraine during a visit to Moldova on 17 September.
The announcement comes as concerns grow about Russia’s continued attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure.
“Russia is once again planning a winter war to make the lives of people in Ukraine as terrible as possible,” Baerbock said ahead of a ministerial conference in Chisinau, according to Reuters.
Russia has been launching waves of attacks on Ukrainian power stations and other energy facilities, leading to rolling blackouts in parts of the country. The Ukrainian energy system continues to recover from massive Russian attacks, with power deficits remaining and emergency and scheduled repairs ongoing at energy facilities.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal previously said that Ukraine could get through the winter without power outages if there were no further attacks on energy infrastructure. However, intelligence reports indicate that Russia is preparing for more massive attacks on Ukraine’s energy system.
“This winter will be no less difficult than the previous ones. Maybe even the hardest,” Shmyhal said on 10 September. He added that it’s challenging to predict how many hours Ukrainians will be without electricity in the winter or if there will be outages at all.
The situation remains precarious, as evidenced by a recent attack on 26 August. According to reports, Russia launched 109 drones and 127 missiles at Ukraine, including Kalibr missiles from warships in the Black Sea and missiles from Tu-95MS bombers. The attack resulted in at least seven deaths and 47 injuries. Several regions experienced water supply shutdowns, and Ukrenergo, the national energy company, implemented emergency power outages due to the strikes.
Yuriy Boyko, a Ukrenergo’s supervisory board member, said that energy workers would adjust their winter preparation plans following the attack. However, there are currently no predictions regarding power outages for the coming months.
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