Ukraine is intensifying efforts to secure energy assistance from partners and expects several new shipments to arrive in the coming days, Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said on Tuesday.
“In the coming days, Ukraine will receive new shipments from Azerbaijan, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic, including generators, transformers, cables, medical equipment, and other humanitarian aid,” she wrote on Telegram.
Svyrydenko added that Ireland would provide an additional €25 million ($29.3 million) for the Ukraine Energy Support Fund next week.
The news comes amid a deepening energy crisis in the Ukrainian capital and elsewhere across the country, which has seen many homes contending with a lack of heat, light and running water as outside temperatures plunged.
Overnight on Monday, Russia once again exacerbated the crisis, launching ballistic missiles and drones at the capital which knocked out heating for 5,635 high-rise buildings.
By Tuesday afternoon, 4,000 of these buildings still lacked heating, according to Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko.
President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday said that he would prioritize staying in Ukraine to address the energy crisis over traveling to the World Economic Forum in Davos, despite ongoing diplomatic efforts.
“For now, I am choosing Ukraine, not an economic forum,” he said, adding that the situation could change quickly depending on energy or air defense support.
Some regions of Ukraine will face blackouts lasting more than 16 hours a day under a new system of power outage schedules, according to Yasno CEO Serhii Kovalenko on Monday.
On Jan. 14, Zelensky declared a state of emergency in the energy sector, which led to a review of Ukraine’s regional curfew rules and the establishment of an energy headquarters in Kyiv, among other special measures.
“We are grateful to all our partners for their continued support and the assistance already provided: contributions to the Ukraine Energy Support Fund and backup energy equipment,” Svyrydenko said on Tuesday.
“All of this is directed toward restoring heat and electricity to people’s homes and rebuilding energy facilities after extremely heavy enemy attacks.”