A meeting was held at the Ministry for Communities and Territories Development of Ukraine with the Netherlands’ Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, Aukje de Vries. The meeting was chaired by Deputy Minister for Communities and Territories Development Marina Denysiuk. The parties discussed urgent support for the energy sector, the stability of the heating season, the involvement of Dutch businesses in reconstruction efforts, and the implementation of projects under public–private partnership mechanisms.
Ukraine’s energy system is operating under conditions of intense Russian shelling. Russia is attacking infrastructure facilities, while cold weather significantly increases the load on electricity, heating, and water supply systems.
“Today, Ukraine’s energy infrastructure is under constant pressure due to massive shelling. The enemy is deliberately targeting distribution networks and heat-generating facilities directly in cities. This is an attempt to leave millions of people in Kharkiv, Odesіa, and Kyiv without electricity and heating. In this situation, communities are becoming the foundation of our resilience. For the Ministry for Development, the priority is to provide cities with alternative energy sources to ensure the operation of water utilities, boiler houses, and pumping stations. Our main task is to decentralize generation at the local level. Communities must receive the tools to make every hospital, school, heating facility, and water utility autonomous and independent from centralized networks,” Marina Denysiuk said.
During the meeting, the parties discussed the needs of the energy sector and concrete steps to help meet them. Marina Denysiuk handed over to the partners a consolidated list of communities’ critical needs to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe during the heating season. The sides agreed to further synchronize needs and capabilities, which will allow the Dutch side to supply equipment that fully meets the parameters of Ukrainian networks.
Previously, the Netherlands allocated €300 million for reconstruction in 2025–2026, as announced at URC-2025 in Rome. In October 2025, an additional €25 million in urgent assistance was announced to address critical needs in the energy sector and support urban life-support systems.
Marina Denysiuk also emphasized that the Ministry for Development is working on forming new public–private partnership models. Investment-attracting models are already operating in the port sector, water supply and wastewater management, and healthcare. Representatives of 17 Dutch companies in the energy and healthcare sectors arrived in Kyiv on a visit and are considering investments in the reconstruction and development of Ukraine’s critical and social infrastructure.
