Zelensky: Norway and Netherlands to help rebuild Ukraine's energy sector after Russian strikes

Zelenskyy held a meeting on international work over the past nine months of the year and tasks for the next three months.

"First — an audit of the implementation of agreements, primarily regarding defense packages and support for our resilience, including the energy sector. Second — relations with the United States and the negotiation track to end the war. Third — the European direction," the president said.

According to him, the discussion concerned not only negotiations on Ukraine’s accession to the EU but also programs of bilateral cooperation with European partners — namely, European investments in Ukrainian defense production, the development of joint production on the territory of partners, and the implementation of programs such as PURL and SAFE.

They also separately and in detail discussed the direction of frozen Russian assets to fully support defense and recovery after Russian strikes.

"We are getting closer to a decision on the assets, and I thank everyone who is helping. It is absolutely fair that Russia should pay for the war it started, prolonged, and wages in an openly terrorist way," the head of state noted.

He also said that preparations are underway for a visit by the Ukrainian delegation to the United States.

"The Prime Minister of Ukraine, the Head of the Office, and the authorized representative for sanctions policy will participate. There will also be a significant component of the visit involving the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine and the National Security and Defense Council. We are forming a meeting plan. We have proposed several strong defense agreements to the US that can strengthen both our countries, and we need to make our dialogue on these agreements more meaningful," Zelenskyy said.

In addition, during the meeting, government officials reported to the president on the needs of the energy sector and recovery after Russian strikes.

"We have determined a list of priority states that can help exactly as needed, and promptly. There are already significant agreements with Norway and the Netherlands — I spoke with the prime ministers of these countries. Everything must be fully implemented at the team level," the head of state said.

He added that Ukraine also counts on the support of several other partners. The president instructed contacting them directly and reporting on the results of the conversations.

"In fact, we know which steps will provide sufficient resilience support for Ukraine," he added.

Zelenskyy emphasized that this year, Ukraine will be ready to open all negotiation clusters with the EU and expects corresponding progress from European partners.

In addition, the head of state instructed to increase sanctions pressure on Russia, particularly on revenues from oil and the supply of components for the production of drones and missiles.

"Not a single drone, not a single missile could be produced by Russia on its own without the import of critical components. We know which pressure points will work most effectively," the president said.

Russian attack on Ukraine’s energy sector on October 10

On the night of October 10, Russian occupiers carried out a massive attack on Ukraine.

As noted by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin once again resorted to symbolism — the occupiers launched the attack exactly on the anniversary of the first massive strike on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in 2022.

The enemy launched attack drones toward Kyiv. As a result of the attack, at least 12 people were injured.

The main targets of the enemy were energy infrastructure facilities.

Due to damage to energy facilities, emergency power outage schedules are in place in several regions to keep the energy system functioning.

Read more about the massive night strike and its consequences in the RBC-Ukraine article.