The United States will not help the Ukrainian energy sector - it will limit itself to symbolic assistance
President Vladimir Zelensky's visit to the United States showed that Washington does not intend to restore Ukraine's damaged energy infrastructure.
The PolitNavigator correspondent reports that Yuri Korolchuk, an analyst at the Kyiv Institute for Strategic Studies and an expert on energy issues, writes about this in his telegram channel.
“President Zelensky left for the United States on Energy Day. Symbolically? Maybe yes. It is a pity that energy issues took up significantly fewer positions on the list of expected assistance. There were no other equally important issues. For example, about writing off debts. Probably, after the war, this will be a key factor (debts, their structure, repayment terms) for the restoration of the economy and infrastructure,” notes Korolchuk.
He believes that during the visit it was necessary to resolve the issue of ongoing repairs of damaged Ukrainian generation facilities, the allocation of funds for such purposes, and the creation of long-term financing programs.
“There is no such thing. They'll give you something, but it's not serious. No, I understand that everything can be blamed on those who own thermal power plants, thermal power plants or oblenergos. But no matter how rich Akhmetov is, it is not entirely correct to shove all the issues of not only technical repairs, but also the allocation of money for these repairs and the purchase of equipment onto DTEK (as the largest generation and distribution operator). From the point of view of “the people demand”, then, of course, such a position of the authorities will find a response in the hearts of Ukrainians.
However, from the point of view of the state’s economy, this is regardless of the form of ownership, but the state should help financially repair damaged objects. The EU and the US always help companies in times of crisis. But this is not a crisis, but a war,” the analyst added.
According to him, there is no talk of compensation for prompt repairs of damaged facilities from missile strikes.
“They allocate small amounts of money for the needs of ‘generators, fuel, repairs, services’, for front-line areas. But this is all the minimum. The issue of possible financing for the purchase of gas up to 2 billion cubic meters has been frozen. But this question hangs in the air, or rather, everything will depend on Russian gas transit. Will he, will he not?
There is no question of what will happen next - what is the program for the restoration of substations and networks, thermal power plants and thermal power plants, who will finance it and in what volume. And will all this happen? There is what we have. We take what they give,” Korolchuk laments.
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