PM Svyrydenko: Ukraine ready to share experience to strengthen Europe’s energy security

According to Ukrinform, the Prime Minister announced this on Facebook.

“The aggressor country must be held accountable for all actions that threaten global energy security,” Svyrydenko emphasized. 

She noted that Russia is deliberately violating basic nuclear safety rules and posing a threat to the entire world “by occupying the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in 2022 and constantly attacking the transmission systems of our nuclear power plants and the facilities themselves.”

At the summit, the Prime Minister met with IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi to discuss the situation at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. 

“It is important for Ukraine to have a permanent IAEA monitoring mission at the plant,” the head of government stressed.

According to her, repairs are currently underway on the new safe confinement at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, which was damaged in February last year. 

The prime minister invited Grossi to Kyiv for a conference marking the 40th anniversary of the Chernobyl tragedy. “We look forward to expanding our cooperation within the framework of the memorandum with the IAEA, which we signed last year in Ukraine,” she added.

Svyrydenko also said that Ukraine was able to get through the most difficult winter in four years of full-scale invasion thanks to the Defense Forces, the work of gas and energy companies, and the effective use of nuclear power.

“Ukraine has gained unique experience in managing nuclear power plants in wartime and is ready to share it to strengthen Europe's energy resilience,” the Prime Minister emphasized.

She also stressed that the protection of nuclear facilities in Ukraine is a matter of strategic energy security for the whole of Europe. 

On the sidelines of the summit, Svyrydenko held a series of meetings, the key topics of which were support for the energy sector and the search for additional resources for the strategic restructuring of Ukraine's energy system.

“With Odile Renaud-Basso, President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, we discussed opportunities to support the development of decentralized generation in Ukraine. I thanked her for the financial support for gas purchases for this heating season, which helped us get through the difficult winter period,” she said.

As the head of government noted, “we also discussed the process of restarting management in the energy sector, in particular the completion of the competition at Energoatom and the planned re-election of the supervisory board at Naftogaz of Ukraine, as well as plans to continue the selection process at other energy companies.”

Read also: Gas prices for heat producers to remain unchanged until September 30, says Svyrydenko

Practical issues of diversifying energy supplies were discussed with Bulgarian Prime Minister Andrey Gurkov and Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar, especially in the context of rising prices due to the situation in the Middle East. 

“I am grateful to all of Ukraine's partners who support Ukraine by providing equipment and contributions to the Ukraine Energy Support Fund. Together, we are ready to work to strengthen our common energy security and independence,” Svyrydenko concluded. 

As reported by Ukrinform, on March 10, at the Nuclear Energy Summit, Svyrydenko discussed the situation at the Zaporizhzhia NPP with Grossi. 

Photo: OP