Foreign Minister Calls for ‘Energy Ramstein’ to Battle Heating Crisis

As Ukraine battles a severe electricity crisis in the face of brutally cold temperatures, the administration of Volodymyr Zelensky has called for a meeting of European powers to assist.

On Thursday, Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha announced on social media the creation of an ‘Energy Ramstein’, much like the Ukraine Defense Contact Group formed in 2023 at the NATO Air Base in Ramstein, Germany.

Sybiha said that Ukraine has been promised new bilateral energy-aid packages from its partners, in conjunction with the Ministry of Energy.

“There will be news on this matter tomorrow,” he posted to Facebook on Thursday.

Many of Kyiv’s partners have already been contributing significantly to Ukraine’s Energy Support Fund (ESF), and delivering much-needed electricity equipment. The ESF was established in April 2022 through agreements between former Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko and former EU Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson.

Last December alone, Germany provided $268.3 million in new contributions to the ESF, bringing Berlin’s total gift amount to more than $1.58 billion.

Also last month, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) transferred about $66.4 million to the ESF, bringing its total contribution to the fund to about $211 million. Sweden, in fact, made financial room for these contributions by cutting aid to several African and South American countries.

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Some of those funds went towards equipment for development of generated power in the Ukraine’s most energy-deficient regions, while other money was earmarked for equipment for state-grid operator Ukrenergo to provide distribution in the Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, and Chernihiv regions.

In his announcement, Sybiha noted that Italy has already begun delivering high-capacity industrial boilers with an estimated value of €1.85 million (about $2.15 billion).

“We also apply all international mechanisms,” Sybiha stressed in his post. “The EU civil protection mechanism. Energy charter. Other international organizations. All foreign diplomatic institutions are also instructed to maximize donor support for targeted assistance to the most affected regions and communities, in particular power equipment.”

Energy Sector Fraud

While Ukraine is flirting with a humanitarian crisis given the temperatures and energy deficit, it is a less-than-ideal climate, politically, to ask for billions more euros for Ukrainian energy coffers, as investigations into embezzlement in the nuclear power sector are ongoing in Kyiv.

Halushchenko, the former Energy Minister, has had to participate in an investigation into the “Midas” case, centered on alleged large-scale embezzlement at Energoatom, the state-owned nuclear energy agency. On Thursday, he met with members of the Temporary Investigation Commission of parliament to assist in the investigation.

In November, Halushenko (then Justice Minister) and his predecessor at Energy, Svitlana Hrynchuk, were dismissed from their posts in connection to the affair.

Speaking to the Temporary Investigative Commission in parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, on Thursday, Hrynchuk denied any familiarity with businessman Timur Mindich, who is a major suspect in the Midas case, and stressed that she should not be connected whatsoever to the embezzlement, and has suffered as a result of the inquiry.

“My case is precisely one of the most glaring violations of human rights,” she told the commission. “Details of my personal life, without any connection to the case, have become public knowledge. This has undoubtedly affected my life and my reputation. I consider this a gross violation of my constitutional rights.”