EBRD approves financing for Ukraine grid operator
KYIV (Reuters) – The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said on Wednesday it had approved a financing package worth 372 million euros ($384 million) to support Ukraine’s power grid company Ukrenergo.
The bank said in a statement the loan would allow to make “swift emergency repairs of damages caused by heavy bombings of civilian power infrastructure during Russia’s war on Ukraine and to keep the country’s energy system stable as winter sets in.”
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Ukrenergo CEO Volodymyr Kudrytskyi said on Tuesday the damage dealt to Ukrainian power generating facilities by Russian missile attacks was “colossal”.
He said Ukrainians could face long power outages as practically no thermal or hydroelectric stations had been left unscathed by the Russian attacks.
The EBRD said it would make a sovereign guaranteed loan of 300 million euros.
The first tranche of up to 150 million euros would be for equipment procurement to implement emergency repairs to the power transmission system, while a further 150 million euros will consist of capital structure support, it said.
($1 = 0.9693 euros)
(Reporting by Pavel Polityuk; editing by Timothy Heritage and Jason Neely)