Von der Leyen announces EU's 'winter plan' for Ukraine

The European Commission has developed a plan to support Ukraine this winter, which focuses on repairing the country's energy infrastructure, further connecting Ukraine to the European electricity grid, and stabilizing flows of energy through the country.

She said this during a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv on Friday, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.

"The Commission has developed a winter plan for Ukraine, which I presented yesterday in Brussels together with Fatih Birol, the director of the International Energy Agency that also stands by your side. The Commission's plan is built around three priorities. The first is we help you repair the damages done by the Russian strikes. We will aim to restore 2.5 gigawatts of capacity this winter," she said.

Von der Leyen noted that this is about 15% of Ukraine's needs for this winter.

The second element of the European Commission's plan is continuing to connect Ukraine to the European electricity grid, which will help export two gigawatts of electricity to Ukraine, which covers roughly 12% of the country's need for the winter.

"With these two pillars -- repair and connect -- we can cover over 25% of Ukraine's needs for this winter. And this is in addition to Ukraine's own production," von der Leyen said.

The third "pillar" of the plan is stabilization, she said. That is, Brussels is working on securing a steady flow of energy through Ukraine despite Russia's attacks on large infrastructure. As an example of this work, von der Leyen mentioned that right now, the European Union is dispatching mobile gas turbines and solar panels to Ukraine. She added that she had also discussed with Zelensky the physical protection of power stations.

"These are the priorities for supporting the energy infrastructure. And now comes the funding. We have already provided at least EUR 2 billion to Ukraine's energy security so far. That's EUR 2 billion worth of financial support and in-kind donations from the member countries, for example, 10,000 transformers and generators or a full Lithuanian thermal power plant that is being dismantled in Lithuania and shipped to Ukraine and rebuilt there. And more will come," she said.