In New York, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with executives of leading American energy, financial, and insurance companies. The meeting was also attended by U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator Samantha Power and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources Richard Verma.
The Head of State thanked the American business community and the U.S. Administration for their support in the restoration of Ukraine's energy facilities.
“The energy issue is not only important for the present, but also for the future. We need to prepare for the heating season, because this is our weakness today, as the energy grid is under attack every day, indeed every day. This is not just rhetoric, these are real pragmatic attacks by Putin,” the President said.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasized that a lot has been done to prepare for winter thanks to the support of partners. At the same time, the work done by our state is also important, in particular for the decentralization of the energy system. However, Ukraine still needs more assistance, especially with transformers.
“The biggest challenge is what to do when there is no electricity. The situation in summer is one thing, but as winter approaches it is quite another. After all, it is not just about electricity, but also about heating, communication, phones - everything. This is your life,” the Head of State added.
Samantha Power noted that every winter Vladimir Putin tries to use the cold as a weapon to force people to leave the country.
“So, this time he also hopes that Mother Nature will be on his side, he hopes that the Ukrainian people and all of us will get tired of this struggle. And I think we are here today to show him that he is wrong, that his bet is wrong, as it has been so far,” she said.
During the meeting, the parties discussed in detail plans for the winterization of Ukraine's energy system and the possibility of implementing joint projects in the energy sector.
